So Excited...

Yea! Going on another girls trip! Two in one year. How fancy am I?!
Two (the third is preggers and can't go) of my Shuttle Sisters  and I are going to watch the next Space Shuttle launch in May.

Now to explain a little. I never talk about work on this blog. In fact, I rarely talk about it when I'm not at work. But I will now just for the story sake. The company I work for builds the External Tank for the Space Shuttle. In case you don't know what that is, it is the large brown fuel tank pictured below.

We (Shuttle Sisters) may not be space fanatics. But we did dedicate 5yrs (7 for me) of our lives to this. Ok. We didn't dedicate our lives. But at some point in the past few years, we worked too much over time, ignored our family and friends for the External Tank. And, of course, it's why we are friends. So we kind of care about it. And I'd like to see one launch before there no more.

Plus, who doesn't want to drive 12hrs, one direction, with their friends. Lay by the pool a drink fancy, girlie drinks.  Maybe I'll squeeze a run in too.

Sunday Dinner - 04/25/10

Growing up, I never understood why people didn't like meatloaf. My mom is an amazing cook. Her meatloaf is like an Italian meatball. It's moist and flavorful. I've tried to get the recipe but she's one of those "You put a little of this and a little that" cooks. I've never successfully mimicked her recipe, unfortunately. Below is a recipe is nearly as good.

Meatloaf with Red Sauce
Ingredients
Loaf
1lbs lean ground beef
1lbs lean ground turkey
2 eggs
1tsp Worcestershire
Salt, to taste
hot sauce, to taste
1cup onion, chopped
1/2cup bell pepper, chopped
2tbsp parsley
1tbsp garlic, minced

Red Sauce:
2cups tomatoes, crushed
1/4cup dry white wine
1tbsp Worcestershire

Directions
Preheat oven to 350deg. In a small bowl, beat eggs with the Worcestershire, salt, and hot sauce.

Add egg mixture to the ground turkey and beef. Mix well. Add the onion, bell pepper, parsley and garlic to the meat mixture. 

Mix well. Form the meat into a loaf and place in a large roast pan.

Blend the tomatoes, Worcestershire, and white wine in a bowl.

 
Pour the sauce over and around the meat loaf and bake for1hr. Slice and serve with the red gravy on top.

While, I'm still refining my recipe. It is tasty. Tonight, we had over meatloaf with smashed potatoes,  fruit salad, and broccoli. I love how many serving of fruits & veg I snuck into this meal.


If you have any question/comments about this recipe, pls  leave me a comment or email at megmehell at yahoo.

Floundering

Race season is over here in Lousiana. Well, marathon season. There are 5ks to come thru the summer. But it's not the same as training for a half marathon. Therefore, I'm not technically in training.

I feel kind of lost. I've been in training since last June. I'm better with a plan. A schedule of what to do each day. It a fundamental part of who I am. And I'm not running at all this week. My IT band is acting up. Has been for weeks. I've finally given in and decided to give it much needed rest.

Like most runners, putting one foot in front of another is my stress relief, my exercise, my time to think about everything and nothing. I'm worried about losing fitness. I'm worried about gaining weight.

But the more I think about it, this will be good for me. Change is often scary. But change is good. And at times, training was starting to feel like a 2nd job and I was resenting it. Now I will start to focus on other things. Speed work. Strength training. Cross training. My bike.

Sunday Dinner - April 18th (Sinusy Fog Edition)

Lately, I've noticed I've been cooking the same things over and over again. So yesterday morning, I spent some time flipping thru cookbooks and settled on a recipe from Justin Wilson's cookbook.

Roast Pork with Applekraut
Ingredients
2.5lbs to 3lbs pork loin roast
1/2tsp garlic powder
1tsp cayenne pepper
1tsp mint
1tsp salt

1/2 cup butter

4medium apples, thinly sliced

4cups sauerkraut
1/4cup brown sugar

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 325deg. Combine garlic, salt, cayenne, and mint.

Rub pork loin with seasoning mixture. In a large pan, roast uncovered for 2hrs.

While the meat is cooking, melt the butter in a large skillet.

Add the apples, a few at a time, cook until browned.  Stir in the brown sugar and sauerkraut until caramelized. Cover and cook on low for 30mins, stirring occasionally. Add the kraut mixture to the finished pork.

Slice and serve with your choice of vegetable. Tonight we had tomato cumber salad and baked sweet potato fries.

Sorry, there's not a lot of personality to this post tonight. My allergies are really bothering the last few days. I'm tired and groggy and drugged to the teeth with sinus meds. I promise. More pizzazz next time.

Weekend Activities (Better Late Than Never) & 3 Change Challenge

I meant to do this post Monday but as usual I got busy. But like I said better late than I never...

Weekend In Review
This past weekend I didn't do a lot of scheduled exercise but we certainly were active.

Friday, I ran a few miles in the morning. Then in the afternoon I loaded the girls in the trailer and we peddled off to the library.  All I could think was "Wow, I'm a dork. I've got my helmet on, pulling my girls on a bike, to the library." But I got some good cross training in and a trip to the library.

Saturday was the City Park Botanical Garden Plant Sale. The girls and I gave the Big Man some time to himself. We loaded into the truck and headed to the park.My mom, dad, Ted and Diane met us. The weather was gorgeous. We spent 4hours walking around, buying plants. I had to replace everything that died during the freeze this winter.

Some pictures from the day. Li making funny faces. Not meaning to, but as my mom says, it's the only face she has.

MM with her fav servant, my Dad.

Sunday we took Li out to ride on her bike. The Big Man loaded his bike and Li's bike in the truck. With MM in the trailer, I rode over to the empty neighborhood next to ours. Poor MM, the whole ride over she kept asking "Where Sissy?Where Sissy?" Typical 2nd child. Idolizes and loves her sister. Li practiced her bike riding up, down and around the block. The coaster brakes were messing her up a bit but she's working on it. I let MM out of the trailer to run the streets.  MM refused to ride home with me. So pulled Li back home.

3 Changes Challenge
Amanda at runtothefinish issued a challenge to her blog readers to make 3 changes in your life in the next 30days. Bust thru a plateau. Shake things up. Change is hard for me. Really hard. But since I started my birthday challenge at the beginning of the month, I figured I would incorporate this.

My 3 Changes
1. Add more core/ab work (at least 3x a week) to my routine.
2. No cursing. I've been working on this one already but I'm not 100%
3. Clean out and organize my spare room/closet. This is very embarrassing. I'm not an overly messy person. But I've been ignoring this room for along time. I plan to take before and after pictures then blog about it.

Anyone can join. And we all need to make some sort of change in our lives. Stop on over to runtothefinish and participate. At least 1 random winner will be drawn to win prizes worth over $200.