Children with Granny, the man off with some friends, I had the joy of making lunch in total peace and quiet this afternoon.

And I had a hankering for a veggie burger.

1 can of black beans, rinsed, drained and mashed
1/4 c ground flax seed
3 Tbsp bone suckin’ bbq sauce

When I was getting out veggies for burger toppings, I spotted some mushrooms hiding in the back of the fridge. Into the burger mix they went.

Shhhhh, listen? Do you hear that? Just a quiet burger sizzle and a gentle bubble of my veggies steaming.

I had a little lunch date with a certain boyfriend, we had a few things to go over.

Brendan approves. Mostly. The Bone Suckin’ Sauce is pretty innocent but with his glasses on I can’t tell if he’s giving me the evil eye over that one or not.

On an Ezekiel roll with mustard, sliced dill pickle, red leaf lettuce and a side of steamed broccoli and cauliflower drizzled with another tablespoon or so of bbq sauce, just because.

The veggie burger mix make 3 nice sized patties, about 170 calories per patty.

My quiet afternoon wore on and soon we had to run off and fetch our children from my mom’s house. And eat dinner there too. How convenient.

Some yummy appetizers – mushroom and artichoke bruchetta on rice crackers.

Food Should Taste Good jalapeno chips,

to go with pink bean and salsa dip.

Tossed salad

and Moong Dahl with spinach for dinner. Served with naan.

Why is everything your mother makes so good?

After dinner, there was trouble brewing. Ultimate White Cake from the Wegmans bakery kind of trouble.

Oh uh – big trouble. Big, thick, delicious, vanilla trouble.

Don’t look Brendan.

Trust me, it got ugly. I must spare you. It burns! It buuuuurns!

• The Opposite of Birthday Beet Juice
• Whensday?
• We Came, We Saw, We Raked

Having started last Saturday with a fast 7 miles, I decided this Saturday would be another long run – but this one at a comfortable pace and maybe a little further. Matt’s post on Stu Mittleman got me revved up for an enjoyable long run and today was the day.

I wasn’t sure exactly how far I was going to go this morning, and decided to play it by ear. First things first though, a MamaBite while loading the dishwasher multi-tasking.

Come on coconut oil, show me what you got!

My plan was to maintain a nice easy pace and to just get out there and enjoy myself for a nice long Saturday run. With my borrowed Garmin strapped wrist, I ventured off my usual long run route and ran through a park, a cemetery and various neighborhood streets I wouldn’t otherwise explore, a just let the distance be whatever it was going to be.

I kept an eye on my watch and saw my pace was hanging out between 8:40 – 8:50. As I neared home, I decided to finish strong and picked up the pace for the final mile. Maybe I should have titled this post A Nice and Easy 8 with a Fast 1.

Clicky clicky to see the biggie pic-y. I am just loving that I get to see these stats. What fun!

9 miles, 1 hour and 17 minutes later, time to whip out a few of my favorite things.

This is my latest mid-morning snack favorite. Two slices of toasted cinnamon raisin Ezekiel bread, 1 tbsp of almond butter topped with sliced banana. I’ve eaten this concoction many times before but it had sort of fallen off the radar for a while. (Thank you Holly for this reminder!)

And my most favorite thing of all? Almond butter in bulk! 4.99 a pound, baby!

Did you know?

Calorie counting saves you money? It saves me money at least! Now that I’m eating less almond butter I haven’t been spending a fortune re-stocking my fridge with it every other day! Who knew?

My post long run breakfast in all it’s normal portioned almond butter glory!

The children have been shipped off to Granny’s house for the afternoon and I’ve got a few hours of silence in store! Off to kick up my child-free heels for a spell.

• When the Garmin Strikes Midnight
• Stay at Home
• Half Marathon Race Recap