ALL the Cookies!

It's impossible for me to walk past new Oreo flavors. I can't help myself.

These ones are really good - I like the cinnamon cookie - though I do question if it's really an Oreo if it isn't chocolate.

Tom made really amazing clam chowder for dinner last night.

I may have had more than one bowl.

My run on Tuesday was 6x400m repeats at 5k pace. Every repeat was into the wind and it was super cold out, but I did it. Apparently it took more out of my than I thought it did, because my run today was insanely slow. It was supposed to be an easy run day anyway, so I didn't push it, but I haven't run that slow in a long time.

Does anyone else lounge around after a run rather than actually showering and putting on clean clothes? That's not just me, right?

Yoga camp has been great this week (and the whole month, really)! It has been more mellow and less power yoga, which feels great and has helped improve my mood on more than one occasion.

Buddy hasn't been able to go running lately because the roads are covered in salt right now. He looks so sad every time I leave without him, but I don't want the salt to hurt his paws. I also don't want him to eat any of it. I periodically chase him around the yard instead, which he seems to accept as an alternative.

He's so cute.

Tempo Thursday

I started a really whiny post earlier, but I thought I would spare you most of it. I was scared to start my run because I was worried my leg/ankle was going to hurt. I feel like every time I think it's feeling better, it knocks me back down again. It has been really unpredictable.

I sucked it up and hit the basement for my tempo run - and wouldn't you know it, I didn't have to stop early! I would be lying if I said it was perfect. There was some discomfort, especially at the beginning, but I started really focusing on pushing off more with my big toe and everything just clicked. The pain was gone! It makes me wonder if I have been running with a weird gait lately.

Finished my tempo run with a warm up, 4 miles @ 8:42 and a cool down - 6 miles total. Success!

I let Buddy stay upstairs while I ran. He stayed in the same place the whole time I was running.

Where there's sun, you'll find Buddy.

He was less happy with snow blowing in his fact this morning.

Those Red Velvet Oreos from yesterday? Go buy some. I mean, if you like red velvet cake and you like Oreos, you can't go wrong. They're really good.

Dinner tonight was salmon (from Kodiak - thanks Mom!), asparagus, broccoli and cauliflower. Now I'm off to eat some tasty mocha cookie ice cream deliciousness!

Essential Things and Bruising

After running around all day yesterday, today was a much slower pace.

I had a leisurely morning with my beloved coffee and caught up on all the blogs I didn't get to read yesterday.

I went to the store to buy really essential things like molasses (so I could make gingersnaps) and tortilla chips (because they were on sale). It's impossible for me to go to the store and not buy a bunch of random stuff.

My run today was a nice, easy 2 miles with some bad tv (Vampire Diairies, I'm not proud). My ankle is still hurting a bit, but I might have figured out what is causing it.

When I first started skating in roller derby, I had a lot of bruising on my ankles from my skates for the first few weeks (months?) of practice.

Note the ankle brace above, that was for padding, not stability.

I bruise ridiculously easily. I've been wearing a new pair of waterproof boots a lot more lately to walk Buddy, and I think that's what has been irritating my ankle. So, I am taking a break from the boots and we'll see if the pain stays away. I'm also planning on wearing thicker socks the next time I take those boots out.

And since I have nothing else exciting to tell you, here are a couple of cute Buddy pictures to start your weekend off right!

Any exciting weekend plans?

Some Saturday Randomness

I meant to write yesterday, but I got home later than I thought I would last night.

Friday we woke up to snow, which I didn't know we were getting.

Rather than do anything productive (ok, I did the dishes), I decided to make cookies instead - snickerdoodles!

I really didn't want to work out, but mostly because I was feeling lazy (which I decided was not a good enough reason), so did a little 30 day shred with Jillian Michaels. I may even make it past level 1 one of these days! ;)

I got a little caffeine boost from some Nuun Energy before heading off to babysit for one of the kiddos from my old class.

I intend to use this holiday glass all year round, and you can't stop me.

I didn't end up getting home until 11:30, and since there's no way I can just go straight to sleep, it was yet another Saturday morning where I woke up way too tired.

It was a little brisk this morning - check out that "feels like" temp!

We had about 14 runners show up this morning for our run. Most of yesterday's snow is gone from the roads, but the trails still have about an inch on them. It definitely slowed us down a bit (especially on the downhills where you don't want to suddenly lose traction), but other than my frozen face, it was a really good run! My gps says we went 6.61 miles in 1:00:32, a 9:09 pace. Not bad considering the weather and the trail conditions.

Any exciting plans for the weekend?

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A Big Chicken, Fun Mail, and Good Food

Buddy is officially afraid of the smoke detector/oven. He was home alone a few weeks ago when the low battery warning started going off...every 60 seconds the alarm would sound, and the voice (because it talks) would say "low battery." We don't know how long it was going off before I got home, but he's been afraid of it ever since.

Now he acts weird when we turn the oven on and looks anxiously up at the smoke alarm. Apparently he's made the connection between the oven being on and the smoke alarm going off. When it goes off (it's sensitive, we don't just burn things all the time), he jumps on the couch, or runs upstairs to hide.

We have an 80lb chicken for a dog.

This is Buddy keeping an eye on the smoke alarm - he doesn't understand why we are not concerned by the woman in the ceiling.

I wore my Transcends to run today to (hopefully) give my foot/ankle a little more support - and then I complained about how heavy they are compared to my usual Mizunos. I think they helped though.

It was a fun mail day today.

I was a little disappointed that my Pro Compression grab bag ended up being two colors I already have and a pair of Ragnar socks (I guess now I should run a Ragnar relay?). It will still be nice to have new socks, a couple of my old ones are getting stretched out.

I got new Nuun to try out - Tangerine Ginger! And they threw in a fun holiday glass! :)

Dinner tonight was Egg Roll in a Bowl. It doesn't photograph well, but it's delicious! We make it pretty often, and switch up what veggies we throw in (I say we, but Tom cooks it).

I made more Eggnog cookies tonight too - my running group polished off most of the last batch, so we needed more to have for Christmas.

Are you ready for the holidays or do you still have tons of things to do?

It's kind of inevitable

Happy Saturday!

I hope you're having a great weekend so far and haven't had to venture out and deal with the last-minute shopping madness.

Friday was pretty uneventful around here. I ran, I did dishes, harassed the dog - the usual.

I got to try out my new tank top from Sweat Pink - it's really soft!

I was up too late on Friday night, hanging out and drinking eggnog, so 6:45 felt even earlier than usual this morning.

Pre-run breakfast was coffee and an English muffin with peanut butter. It's my go-to meal before a run or a race.

For some reason, it felt extra cold this morning. My face was numb for about half the run. We were pretty speedy today, we averaged an 8:48 minute pace for around 6.5 miles. It was a really good run! And I fell. It's kind of inevitable if you spend enough time on the trails. We've all done it.

We were about half a mile away from finishing when my toe caught on a tree root. I impressively managed to hit both knees, my right hip, forearm and shoulder. I'm not even sure how I was able to hit so many body parts on the ground. A couple of guys from my running group were right there and helped me up, and we were off again. I must have been a little numb from the cold, because things definitely started to hurt more once I got home.

Not my worst injury (you should have seen some of the ones from roller derby), but not fun either.

I was also very popular this morning because I brought some eggnog cookies for everyone.

I watched The Book Thief this afternoon. It's a total crying movie - and if you haven't read the book, you totally should.

Now I'm being festive drinking White Christmas tea and watching Die Hard (It's totally a Christmas movie).

What's your favorite Christmas movie?

Any good falling stories?

Eggnog Cookies!

The holidays are a time for sweets. There's no doubt about it. Holiday candy pops up in the grocery store, and you know all the limited edition holiday ice creams find their way into my basket. I can't help myself!

My family has always done a lot of baking/candy making around the holidays, and I'm keeping the tradition alive, within reason.

I am very aware that there are only two of us in the house, so I'm trying to not make too many things. We really don't need to have 8 different kinds of cookies in the house. I don't think. 

This afternoon I decided to try a recipe that I found on Cooking Classy for Eggnog Cookies, and they are really good.

Eggnog Cookies 

Recipe from Cooking Classy

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 12 minutes

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg, plus more for topping
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
2 large egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp rum extract
1/2 cup eggnog

Frosting:

1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
3 - 5 Tbsp eggnog
1/2 tsp rum extract
3 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon for 30 seconds, set aside. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whip together butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until pale and fluffy. Mix in egg yolks one at a time, blending just until combined after each addition. Mix in vanilla extract, rum extract and eggnog. With mixer set on low speed, slowly add in dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Scoop dough out by the heaping tablespoonfuls and drop onto Silpat or parchment paper lined baking sheets, spacing cookies 2-inches apart. Bake in preheated oven 11 - 13 minutes. Allow to rest on baking sheet several minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool. Cool completely then frost with Eggnog Frosting and sprinkle tops lightly with nutmeg.

For the Eggnog Frosting:

In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whip butter until very pale and fluffy. Add in rum extract and 3 Tbsp eggnog and mix in powdered sugar. Add additional eggnog to reach desired consistency.

Things I did differently: 

• I used a handheld electric mixer, and a spoon. I'm old-school (and I don't have a stand mixer).
• I didn't line my cookie sheets with anything, they were perfectly fine and didn't stick at all.
• I didn't actually measure anything for the frosting and cut back on the amounts of everything. The comments on the recipe said it made a lot of frosting, so I made less. And I still have a bunch leftover.
• All of my butter was salted, because I'm a rebel.

I am really glad I made them small, because they're pretty rich, but really delicious!

Do you make any special holiday treats?