Let’s start this post by tackling a very important question you surely have:*

What the hell is the difference between a scallion and a leek?

Well, I’m glad you asked because until today I didn’t know either.  When getting ready to write up this recipe I couldn’t remember if the green oniony things I picked up in our CSA share yesterday were scallions or leeks.  Google tells me that scallions are young onions. Leeks are, well – leeks. I’m fairly confident that what I have here are leeks*, and because I don’t think your pot will explode* or your fabulous dinner party will be ruined* if you use scallions in place of leeks in this Vegan Potato Leek* Soup recipe, I’m going with leeks.

So assuming these are indeed leeks, here’s the scene: some big and small leeks and a bowl full of dirty potatoes. Plus some tomatoes and cantaloupes for decoration.

I know that I’m not the first person on face of this earth to make Potato Leek soup,* therefore I spent a little time browsing recipes today for inspiration and a little guidance too.

Except every recipe I found called for cream or milk or butter. OK, that’s lovely, but I think I can do this without any dairy.*

Vegan Potato Leek Soup

2 – 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 large white onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 large leeks and 3 small leeks, sliced
6 medium white potatoes, cubed
3 – 4 water or vegetable broth
S & P to taste

Dice your onion, mince your garlic and slice off hairy part of your leek. Continue slicing your leek until you get to the green part and then toss said hairy and green parts into the compost. Saute onions, leeks and garlic in some olive oil on medium heat until the onions are translucent.

In the meantime, scrub up your potatoes and then cube them. I chose not to peel my potatoes because I got to thinking that if there’s any sort of nutritional value in a white potato, most of it is probably in the skin.*

Once your onions are soft, add a couple cups of water or vegetable broth and bring to a boil. Add your potatoes and cook until soft.

Then comes my favorite sneakity trickity trick soup trick. Ladle out about half to two-thirds of your vegetables and broth and transfer it to the food processor.

You know what to do from here.* Turn the food processor on while you stand there contemplating the world’s problems. Once pureed and you realize that all we need is love* (and to know the difference between leeks and scallions) add the blended soup back in to the pot with the un-blended portion.

And there you have it. Creamy, dairy-free potato leek soup.

The perfect afternoon snack.**

** – yes, I’m exactly right.

• Whole Wheat* Pizza Crust
• The Quest for the Perfect Veggie Burger
• The Infamous Breakfast Cookie

Item #177 on my list of Things That Make My Heart Leap Into My Throat:

That would be the 24th mile marker of the Rochester Marathon that is now three weeks away.  THREE! WEEKS! Seeing that freshly spray painted “24″ on the marathon course during a bike ride today made me gasp and cover my mouth with my hand whilst laying my other arm across my forehead before pretending to faint.

Holy.  Crap.  They have marked the miles for the race.  We are that close.

Yes, that bright orange, yet-to-be-faded by the weather or bipeds or Godzillas was my cold, harsh reminder of just how close the marathon is now.  I’ll probably be doing the exact same thing with my mouth, hand and arm in three weeks too.  Except maybe the fainting thing will be real then.

Be scared.

Yup!  No problem!  I am scared.  I admit it.  And I feel as though I shouldn’t be!  I’ve run a marathon before after all.  I’ve trained the same way this time.  I did it once, I can do it again, right?  But what if I can’t? I know all too well how freaking sucky it gets at the end. I remember how much my legs hurt.  I’ll never forget wondering how on earth I was managing to move forward despite a pair of legs that felt like over cooked summer squash. I know I promised myself right around that very same mile marker two years ago that I was never, ever going to do this again.

This is when I think about the fact that marathon running is a lot like child birth. It feels really long. It is not easy. There’s a lot of build up and preparation. A lot of swearing and sweating and grunting and crying. A lot of saying that you are never, ever going to do this again. But then before you know it, it’s a couple of years later and you’re holding another positive home pregnancy test in your hand or you’re mailing in the registration form with your check, and in both instances thinking “what the hell did I just do?”

But do it anyway.

So it’s ok be scared, but you still have to do those things that scare you. That’s how change happens. When you do the things that scare you, you give yourself the opportunity to succeed. Sure, you give yourself the opportunity to fail too, but how awesome is that?  Failure is good.  Failure is how you figure it out.  And even when you fail, chances are you’ll have at least a few small successes along the way too.  And it’s those small successes along with some big ones that eventually begin to add up.  Before you know it, you’ve got something much bigger and something very real in front of you; a change in the way you perceive who you are and what you are capable of.

You don’t change your self image in one moment of feeling good about yourself. It’s a compilation of all your successes, both big and small, that start to make a difference in the way you see yourself and allow you to move toward becoming that person that you want to be.  Nothing builds success like success.  Succeed at one thing, and suddenly you’ve got the courage to try something else, something that at one time probably seemed impossibly scary.  But that’s when you run your fingers through the hair of Fear and grab a hold of those nappy roots to look Fear straight in the face.  That’s when you really begin.

So begin already, would ya?

Start small.  Go for a walk and run just a little.  Do one push up.  Or ten.  Run a 5K.  Run another marathon.  Write a post like this for crying out loud!  Do I even know what the hell I’m talking about here?  Do I sound like an idiot?  Maybe.  Probably!  But how else am I going to figure out what works and what doesn’t in this tiny plot of cyber real estate of mine?  How else am I going to figure out what I enjoy writing about and what I don’t?  All I can do is be honest and be myself and share what works for me and hope it might work for you too.  So that’s what I do – scary or not.  Put it out there, risk failure, adjust course as needed and then keep going with some new knowledge to come along with me for the ride.

Nike was right.

So just do it.  Do something.  Do anything!  And it’s ok to be afraid.  Spray painted numbers are pretty scary after all, as are positive home pregnancy tests.  One of those I plan to plow right over in three weeks, the other would surely make me faint.  That would be #154 on my list of things that make my heart leap into my throat.  In fact, let’s not even go there.  Too scary.

• Lost Something? I’ll Find It.
• Home Field Advantage
• Everywhere You Look

Don’t be fooled. Gazpacho is not cold, raw soup. That’s a lie. Gazpacho is a vegetable slurpee.

‘Round these parts, tomatoes are in abundance right now. If you too have been looking at the slew of tomatoes on your counter thinking “what the FREAK am I going to do with all of those?!” every time you walk by them – then a tomato garlic cucumber pepper smoothie is for you.

I mean, gazpacho. Gazpacho is for you.

I’ve been meaning to make the ‘zpach for a while now, but it just seemed too complicated. And when I say complicated, I mean that I couldn’t recall exactly what went in to it. And when I say that I couldn’t recall what went into it, I mean that the mere thought of searching my own blog for the recipe was just too much to bear. It made me feel sleepy. My tomatoes started to look like little pillows and the leaves like little blankets and I just wanted to take a vegetable-that’s-really-a-fruit nap.

FINE. These tomatoes aren’t going to eat themselves after all. Let’s get to it. Next year I’m planting the Cannibalistic heirlooms. You know, the ones that start to eat each other before I have a chance to feel guilty that I didn’t get to them all in time? Guilt free vegetables. I’m going to make a killing selling the seeds of those bad boys.

So an alternate name for this post might be What the Hell am I Going to do With All These Freaking Summer Vegetables, Part Deux.

Go click that recipe if you like, but really – it’s easy. De-seed a bunch of tomatoes. Peel and de-seed a cucumber or two. De-seed a red and/or green pepper. Throw everything in the food processor with some olive oil, salt, a couple cloves of garlic and some crushed red pepper. Voila! Liquid salad.

Tomato soup has to be eaten with a sandwich. It is the law. I don’t make this stuff up.

Cold tomato soup deserves a cold sandwich. Tonight I choose my favorite open-faced, sesame ezekiel bread topped with Sabra hummus and salsa sandwich. Yes, that’s right. Salsa. As in – more tomatoes. Stop looking at me like that.

I got a spoon out with the best intentions, but I think I used it twice before I chucked it over my left shoulder, let loose a lip rattling war cry and replaced soup slurping sounds with gazpacho guzzling gulps.

I don’t know what makes gazpacho so creamy and good. Is it simply the combo of vegetables? The oil and garlic? The sweet relief I feel given the fact that I cut my tomato stash down by 75% this evening? Whatever the case, this was good. And the tomatoes didn’t even have to eat themselves! Well, not today anyway.

• We Came, We Saw, We Raked
• True or False
• Thanksgiving is Officially Over

Potential Energy

These my friends, are fuel. And a pretty yummy fuel at that.

Inspired by Brendan Brazier’s Direct Fuel Bites, I made my own version with coconut oil, medjool dates and cocoa powder. Coconut oil is where it’s at for potential energy, which is what makes these little suckers so powerful.

Chewy Chocolaty Chewy Chews (catchy, eh?)

10 medjool dates, pitted
1/4 cup coconut oil
2 – 3 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

Throw all ingredients into the food processor and then stand back to observe it’s Kinetic Energy with awe and wonder.

Process until you have a smooth, brown, greasy blob.

You may have to stop the food processor and scrape down the sides down a couple of times before it looks like something out of everyone’s favorite scary movie.

Creative Energy

You know, I’m gonna make my own scary movie! I’ll call it “The Blog”. In fact, I’m working on it right now!

The Energy to Stay on Topic

Lay a long piece of cellophane over a cutting board. With a little Physical Energy, take your scary brown greasy blob and roll it into a ball with your hands. Place ball on cellophane and then flatten said scary brown greasy blob it into a scary brown greasy pancake.

Wash your hands. Well. And then rap.

My name is ALISON! and I’m here to SAY! I made these CHEWS! just the other DAY!

I meant, WRAP.

Electrical Energy

Lay your wrapped pancake flat in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes to allow it to firm up. I came back to mine a few hours (and apparently a different cutting board) later.

Once firm it is easy to cut these into bite sized pieces. I prefer to cut mine into a variety of sizes so that I have a little flexibility during a long run, depending on how I’m feeling or how long it will be before I refuel again.

Or, in the case when I’m using them as a quick out the door snack when I need all my energy to wrestle children in and out of the car? Yeah. That’s when I grab the biggest one I can find.

This recipe makes approximately 16 1 oz pieces. You can easily halve this recipe, especially when you consider the fact that I doubled Brendan’s Direct Fuel Bite recipe from Thrive.

I kept my layers of Chewy Chocolaty Chewy Chews separated with parchment paper. Store in an air tight container the fridge.

So these are a good, but a word of caution: they will melt if you take them with you on a warm day or carry them (wrapped!) in your pocket on a run. Coconut oil turns to liquid at about 80 degrees Fahrenheit. I used these on my 20 mile training run last week and they worked great for raw energy, but they were kept cold at home until I stopped in to refuel. Still working on how I’ll transport these and/or my fridge during the marathon in about 4 weeks here. I’ll let you know how that goes.

Now on to some other forms of energy!

Carrot Joke Energy

So a pair of carrot legs walks into a bar… awww, you heard that one already?

Who am I kidding. I got nothing.

Green Dark Red Energy

Damn beets! Way to ruin what was going to be to be a perfectly good Green Energy example!

Kale, romaine, cucumber, apple, lemon and ginger juice. And oh yeah, a couple of small beets. Worked great for Write This Post Energy though, I must say.

Positive Energy

Mollie is the winner of my Operation Beautiful Giveaway! Mollie, email me your mailing address and I’ll get this out in the mail to you on Monday!

OK, that’s a rap! I mean, that’s a wrap.

• One Armed Carrot Jokes
• Breakfast Garlic Breath
• Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

I love cereal, but I rarely buy it. Because if I bought it, I would eat it. And the kids would eat it too. Now of course I don’t think cereal is inherently bad or purposefully tries to be evil, but it’s just too damn easy to sit down and eat 600 calories worth of Heart to Heart in a single sitting before you finally stop going back to the box for another bowl.

What? Is that only me?

Thus! I prefer to resist temptation at the grocery store.  It’s a hell of lot easier to avoid diving head first into the box of Peanut Butter Puffins standing in aisles at Wegmans than it is at home on Thursday night while watching old episodes of 30 Rock on Hulu.  Yes, let’s just leave that boxed cereal on the store shelves where it belongs, shall we?

But then sometimes, a girl wants something sweet and crunchy to throw on top of her organic blueberries and greek yogurt. Is that too much to ask? I mean really.

So what’s a girl to do? What’s a girl to do? Think. Think. Think.

Hmmm, what about what Michael Pollan says:

Eat all the junk food you want as long as you cook it yourself.

I like it. Let’s do it.

I’ve made my own cereal before, and granola too. This is basically the maple pecan granola recipe I use, except made with my beloved coconut oil in lieu of nuts and butter.  Now I love nuts as much as the next girl *snicker* but I get plenty of nuts in buttered form… almond butter, cashew butter, sunflower butter – I don’t need any more nuts for crying out loud!  All I want it something a little sweet and a little crunchy.

Just some toasted oats please!  Except not these kind of toasted oats.

Toasted Maple Oats

2 cups rolled oats
2 Tbsp coconut oil
2 Tbsp Grade A real maple syrup
Dash of salt

Pre-heat the oven to 300 degrees. If your coconut oil is firm (which mine was NOT in this summer heat) you can warm the jar in a bowl of hot water for a few minutes or in the microwave for a few seconds, until it’s in liquid form. Blend coconut oil, maple syrup and salt together. Stir in oats until well coated in the oil/syrup mixture.

Move oats to a baking pan, I’ve used a cookie sheet in the past or a 9 x 13 inch cake pan works too.

Bake for 10 minutes, stir oats with a spatula and then bake for an addition 10 minutes.  Keep an eye on them toward the end, watching to be sure they don’t burn.  Works out to be about 118 calories per 1/4 c serving.

Presto-chango your oats are now toasted!

I loaded a spatula full of still warm and toasty oats onto a 1/2 c or so of Chobani 2% plain greek yogurt and locally and organically grown, farmers market fetched blueberries.

Store remaining oats in an air tight container in the fridge.  It’s probably good for quite a while, but I’m not the one to ask that question of, ours never lasts more than a couple days.  Fortunately the kids love this too, and for whatever reason, I don’t feel the urge to submerge my head into this pile of oats over and over again.  Just once is enough.

• Whole Wheat* Pizza Crust
• The Quest for the Perfect Veggie Burger
• The Infamous Breakfast Cookie

A little over a year ago Caitlin from Healthy Tipping Point spawned a little side project blog she called Operation Beautiful. It all started with a post-it note that she left on a bathroom mirror – a note that said “You Are Beautiful” after having a not-so-great day feeling pretty crummy about herself.

She blogged about it and suddenly women all around the world started doing the same thing. Many of these women started sending Caitlin pictures of their post-it notes in places like the gym, the grocery store, the library – any place a woman (or man!) might see it and be reminded that they are awesome.

A short while later Caitlin was offered the opportunity to turn her inspirational idea into book! And just last week, Caitlin’s book appeared on store shelves across the country.

Having fallen out of the healthy living blog world for a while there, I’d sort of forgotten about Operation Beautiful – not to mention the book. The message is of course very sweet but very important as well. We need to stop picking ourselves apart and remember that despite any flaws you may have (and we all do!) – you are still an amazing, incredible, beautiful person, flaws and all.

You are not what you own. You are not what you wear. You are not a wide waist or short legs or the couple of stray gray hairs you can no longer hide by plucking them out of the top of your head.

So after watching Caitlin on the Today show last week

and following along with book release happenings through cyberspace, I added “Buy Operational Beautiful” to my to-do list. It just so happens that one of my post-it notes is featured in the book! Squeal! I mean, this could be the closest I ever get to writing my own book – damn straight I’m gonna go buy a copy!

But then something crazy happened. After getting reacquainted with Operation Beautiful at the end of last week, I suddenly started to catch myself having all these negative thoughts about myself! At any given time on any given day – in the shower, on a bike ride, a run, looking in the mirror, driving in the car… those stinkin’ negative thoughts would creep in without even realizing it! Holy crap I do this too! And that’s when it hit me – maybe I should actually read this book.

So off I went to Border’s this weekend to fetch myself a new book – armed with post-it notes and a sharpie, of course.

And just to prove a point, I’ll have you know I’m not exactly fond of this picture of myself. I wasn’t even going to post it until I realized that I’m an idiot. Unwashed hair! (The hair wrap is a dead giveaway.) Unflattering lighting! Why is the post-it over my mouth like that? Why did I even take this picture?

Geez woman, how about you completely miss the point here.

Anyways.

Four copies on the shelf,

I pulled one out and left a note on it. (That’s right, a breastfeeding post-it – killing two birds with one stone here.)

(And this would be where a store person stopped to asked me if I need any help. Nooooo, I’m fine! Just wheelin’ a permanent marker around here near all these brand new books on your shelves… why do you ask?)

I put the post-it loaded book back on the shelf and then snagged my own post-it-less copy, thinking about the fact that I am just as guilty as so many other women in this world with the negative self talk and thoughts. Dammit!

And then I thought you know what, someone else probably needs to read this too.

Someone like you.

So I snagged one more, and yup I’m giving it away! All you have to do for a chance at winning a copy of Operational Beautiful: Transforming the Way You See Yourself One Post-It Note at a Time is to leave a comment on this post telling me that you could use a good kick in the pants to be reminded to knock off the negative self talk too. I’ll choose a winner by random by the end of the week.

Now leave a comment and then go think something nice about yourself, would ya?

• Operation Beautiful

I looked at the calendar just now and realized that four years ago today, I quit my day job.

With one month to go until the impending arrival of Thing 2,

I swapped out dress slacks and make up and opted for dress up and make believe.

This is the longest job I’ve ever held.

It’s been the most challenging.

But it’s also been the most rewarding.

Some days start out easy.

Some days start out rough.

Some days get harder later on.

It’s not always pretty.

And it’s not always easy.

Every day is not a picnic.

But we’ve definitely had some fun!

And found ways to keep busy.

And haven’t forgotten to have a sense of humor.

Or how to have a good time.

I need to say thank you to my husband, who eagerly handed over the role as stay at home parent and slogs off to work every day to support us.

I need to say thank you to all my fellow stay at home friends (and their children!) who have helped keep me sane these last four years.

I need to say thank you to the countless family members who stopped by to visit just to say hi, to give me a break or to help keep us from going stir crazy.

And most of all, I need to say thank you to these girls of mine.

For teaching me so much about myself.

About life.

And about love.

About keeping the paint up high.

And keeping our standards low.

And most of all, to just go with the flow.

Holy crap. We made it through another day together. Hallelujah.

• Scary, Scary, Quite Contrary
• Everywhere You Look
• Can't You Read the Signs?

I envision the title of this post being sung to the chorus of Rock Me Amadeus, in case you were wondering.

So… Ratatouille. Yeah. I’m fairly sure “Ratatouille” is French for “what the hell am I going to do with all these freaking summer vegetables?”

My mom has been making Ratatouille a lot recently and has subsequently been raving to me about it during recent phone conversations as well. When she described what went into it and I realized that I had every single one of the ingredients in my overstocked-with-produce fridge, I considered it vegetable fate.

That would be:

2 medium eggplants
1 giant zucchini (that I used half of)
1 medium – large yellow squash
2 small – medium green peppers
1 large red pepper
1 large red onion
3 tomatoes

Plus garlic, basil, thyme and parsley and the oil of your choice. I’m using coconut oil for cooking these days, mainly because coconut oil whispers sweet nothings in my ear about “athletes” and “beautiful people” whenever I get it out of the cupboard.

I looked at a bunch of different Ratatouille recipes to get the general idea of what this dish entailed. Can I add a quick side note here that this dish is absolutely not at all what I expected it to be? I don’t know what I was expecting exactly… but I do know it wasn’t a bunch of chopped up vegetables cookin’ together in their own juices. I think I was picturing a smooth bowl of brownish vegetable mush? That sounds awesome, doesn’t it? It’s a real wonder I haven’t made this sooner.

So did I mention there will be a lot of chopping? Just in case I didn’t, let me say that now. There will be a lot of chopping.

First up, cubed eggplant. The eggplant gets bumped to the head of the class because it’s going to need time to sit while you are busy chopping all the other vegetables. You see, I like to hack into an eggplant and then pretend it’s some jerky dog-walking mortal enemy so I can throw salt on his fresh wounds. That makes me feel evil. Or maybe I salt eggplant to remove some of the bitterness and excess moisture. Either way, your reasons for salting eggplant are up to you really.

Cut the onions into rings and saute in oil over medium heat until soft. Here is where I would have added a couple cloves of minced garlic if I’d had any, but alas – I had none. The understudy Garlic Powder was very excited to take over the role of Garlic tonight.

Next up, cube zucchini and throw it in the pot. Cube yellow squash. Into the pot. Add more oil as needed to keep any vegetables from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Dice yuletide (that would be red and green) peppers and – you guessed it! Into the pot. Tomatoes? Same deal. (Cubed AND de-seeded, thankyouverymuch.) I put the lid back on the pan between each round of vegetables to help keep in heat and moisture.

The last thing to go in to the mix was the eggplant, rinsed and drained. This would also be where I was suddenly wishing I’d had a bigger pot. Either that or less vegetables.

Less vegetables? Bite your tongue! (And if you break the skin, let me know so I can throw salt on it.) I cut up all those dang vegetables! They’re all going in the pot and they’re all gonna like it!

Add fresh herbs, put the cover on the pot and let the vegetables stew in their own juices for about 20 – 30 minutes over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally. And yes, thanks to the magic of condensation it was possible for me to stir them even though they were initially almost too big for their Calphalon britches.

Serve over rice or pasta if you like, or better yet – no grains at all cause that’s the way I roll.

The eggplant was absolutely the star of this dish, the texture was great and I loved the way it took on the flavor of the other vegetables too.

Despite lots of chopping, this dish was really pretty simple to make. It was impressively tasty considering the simplicity that is summer vegetables too!

And best of all – it helped me free up a bunch of space in my fridge. Amen to that.

Another great thing about Ratatouille is that it’s pretty flexible in terms of ingredients – I now understand that you can substitute a bunch of different vegetables based on whatever you have on hand. Mushrooms, carrots, various summer squashes, peppers and herbs too – villainous thoughts are optional.

In short, this really didn’t feel like any more work than making a salad. Just a cooked, lettuce-less salad – how bad could it possibly be? It could have been a bowl of brown mush after all, so let’s just be thankful for that.

• We Came, We Saw, We Raked
• True or False
• Thanksgiving is Officially Over

A dear reader named Kenzie left a comment the other day asking me to do a post about how I make my salads and what I put in them. Given this is supposed to be a food blog afterall, and it seems I’ve mostly been blogging about running these days – I figure it’s high time for a food post.

And what do you know, with a 15 mile long run on the agenda for first thing tomorrow morning, I just so happen to have “Big Giant Salad” on the dinner menu tonight! Here’s how I make a salad that will knock your (and maybe even someone else’s!) socks off.

Step 1: Start with a beautiful head of lettuce. Something OTHER than iceberg for crying out loud please. Red leaf is typically my head of choice, but green leaf or romaine work nicely.  Don’t be afraid to throw in spinach, arugula, dandelion or other mixed field greens too if you’ve got ‘em.

Optional Step 1a: If you’ll be photographing your lettuce before you tear it to shreds, take it outside where natural light is abundant. This will be your best shot at getting the best shot of this gorgeous piece of red-greenery.

Step 2: Tear up lettuce to be washed in salad spinner.

Take note! Tear lettuce in large bite-ish sized pieces OFF the spine. You’ll find no spines in my salad. Spines bad! Leaves good!

You’ll know you did it right if you’re left with this:

(Don’t eat that part.)

Repeat.  And repeat.  And repeat and repeat and repeat until you get to the heart of the head.  Coo lovingly at those sweet little leaves in the middle that are so dang cute and tender.  Rinse leaves well in your salad spinner and then start the spin cycle.

It takes me about 10 minutes or so to rip through a good sized head of red leaf lettuce and it’s worth every minute.  I typically tear up a whole head at once and have a nice bowl full of greens for easy salads/sandwiches/wraps for the next couple of days.  This is also the best way to ensure any head of red leaf gets eaten before it’s forgotten and is turned into a head of slimy brown leaf at the bottom of my produce drawer.

Lettuce torn up, Step 3: would be to head out to the garden to fetch yourself a fatty cucumber. (For sensitive, self conscious cucumbers, refrain from calling it a fatty and instead consider the term big boned.)

Step 3a: Try your damnedest not to sink your teeth into that thing as you walk back into the house.

Step 3b: Slice.

I don’t peel it – the skin is where all the good stuff is, yo! I’ll cut it length wise and de-seed if I’m in the mood.  Friday night rowdiness around here = cucumbers with the seeds still in them.

Cucumber sliced, the carrot is next on the list to meet it’s maker. Enter Step 4.

Wondering how I took that pic if one hand is holding the grater and another hand is holding the carrot? I know you are!

Have someone else take the picture? Psssh – too predictable! What if your husband is at a party and your 6 year old is currently out of your hair and you want to keep it that way?

It’s called your chin and your chest and the timer on your camera.  I do all my own stunts.

Back to Step 4.  Wash carrot.  Don’t peel.  Grate.  Eat the last little nub instead of adding “shredded knuckle” to the list of salad ingredients.

Step 5: Half a red pepper, de-seed and slice.

Step 6: Fetch yourself an organically grown tomato from your CSA stash.

Step 6a: Slice and de-seed.

Cucumber seeds? Maybe. Tomato seeds? Deal breaker. Might as well throw the whole dang salad straight into the compost, eat a Big Mac and a fake shake and let out a huge belch and just go to bed if you’re not going to cut the seeds out of the tomato.

Like, gosh, what a totally grody tomato snob this chick is.  Like, really?  What-evah.

If I have an abundance of time and am feeling motivated, I will chop up a ton of vegetables at once to make throwing salads together really fast and easy.  If I’m feeling lazy I’ll just get the lettuce part done and pat myself on the back for being that much ahead of the game for next time around.

OK so where was I?  Oh right.  Step 7.  Dig around for whatever other salad-ish vegetables you have in your fridge.

Step 8: Shout “rock out!” when you realize you’ve got fresh green beans to add to the mix!   Chop up into 1″ (exactly!) pieces, cut off those weird little tail-y and stem-y things and throw them into the compost pile with those shunned lettuce spines and pepper and tomato seeds.

Step 9: Add a couple tablespoons of your salad dressing of choice. Mine might be smashed avocado with salsa if I’m feeling like bottled dressings are the devil (like sometimes you do). If you are feeling less resentful of bottled dressings, a few of my current favs are Organicville Miso Ginger, Annie’s Goddess Dressing or like I used tonight – Good Seasons Italian Dressing made with apple cider vinegar and canola oil.

Step 10: Put the lid on that bowl good and tight cause otherwise it’s gonna get ugly in Step 11.

Step 11: (Stock photo) I like my salads shaken, not stirred.

Step 12: Dump dressing covered salad into a large salad bowl.  Take said bowl outside.  See Step 1 for explanation if you’ve already forgotten why this important.  If you will not be photographing your salad, just eat it straight out of the first bowl you used to toss it in like a complete heathen.

Step 13: Bring salad back inside and eat at computer while you write up this post.

Step 14: Hurry and click Publish and go check on your kids cause it’s awfully quiet up there.

• We Came, We Saw, We Raked
• Recalibration
• Polenta Pizza: Take Two

For those of you following along, I read Born to Run a few weeks ago.  This book was awesome and continues to have a strong influence on my running life as of late.  Much of the book is about these ultra-marathoners who run this insane, 100 mile race through the Rocky Mountains in Leadville, Colorado.  One of the runners featured in this story had the bright idea to do his training for the race on the actual course itself.  And what do you know – he ended up setting a new course record that year.

Do you know what I think of that?

I think that is Pure.  Genius.

Racing can be as much of a mind game as it is a physical one, and boy do I know an awesome idea when when I steal one.  It just so happens that our new city residence is about one mile from the last 1/5th of the marathon course – the marathon that I plan to run 7 weeks from today.  And while until now I’ve been doing most of my running through my neighborhood streets, I’ve come to realize it’s time to get my ass on the course and take advantage of my serendipitously strategic living quarters.

I want to be mentally prepared for the end.  I want to triumph over those last 6 miles instead of fighting the urge to just lay down on the side of the road and take a little nap like I wanted to last time.  And while of course I’m gonna have to do a bit of running to get there, the mental prep I can begin to do now is invaluable too.

When I ran this race two years ago, I didn’t know the area at all.  What I saw around every turn was a surprise.  But now, the tables have turned!  I’m getting to know every twist and hill and pot hole like the back of my hand.  I really want those last 6 miles to suck as little as possible.  I want to breeze by people at mile 22 and say “what?  this old path?  oh I run here all the tiiiiiimmmeee.  this is like any other ordinary run for me!  why on earth are you looking so tired?”

I also figure it will be good to know which bushes are best to duck into to when these people are ready to bitch slap me.  And I want to know the best place to stash a first aid kit to bandage up the gash in my cheek when that last line comes back to bite me in the ass on September 12th, 2010.

I’m not just running on the course though, I’m riding it too.  I rode the entire course a few weeks ago and at about Mile 9 I started to realize that “dang. 26.2 miles is far.  what the hell am I thinking?”  What am I thinking? I’m thinking I’m gonna know these 26.2 miles well, that’s what!

If I might now go on record and state my various goals for this race, they would be, in no particular order:

1.  Finish the race in an upright position.  Smile optional.

2.  Beat Alison circa 2008: come in under 4:14:59

3.  Hit the goal of Alison circa 2008: finish in under 4:00

4.  Qualify for the Boston Marathon: 3:40:59

If I were a betting gal, I’d wager on coming in some where between Goal #2 and Goal #3.  Given this Less is More Marathon Training Program touts “running your best marathon ever”, I really want to believe I can beat Alison circa 2008.  Alison of 2008 was a couple years younger of course, weighed about 8 lbs or so less I think, but! was also less experienced and was a little more flighty too if I might say so.  She also had to run the race on a very hot and humid day and therefore walked more than she expected at the end.  Fingers crossed for more cooperative weather this year, and maybe even a mild stomach bug the week before to help drop a little excess baggage.

So what do you think, Alison 2010?

Well, I think we can take her!  I also think #4 is a long shot this year without a really strong tail wind or a really good short cut.

Wait.  A short cut?  That is exactly what I should be looking for here!  Pure!  Genius!

• Scary, Scary, Quite Contrary
• A Girl’s Best Friend
• Won’t You Be My Neighbor?