Let ‘er rip.

Posted on 17 January 2010 | Leave a comment

This week begins 16 weeks of mini-marathon training. I typically run 3-4 times a week, but starting on Tuesday, I will run five times a week, building my mileage until I finally run 13.1 miles on May 8. In case you can’t tell by my excessive posts on this topic, I am more excited about this than my friend, Ed, is about his trip to Disney World! I just hope that my joints hold up for this wild ride, and that I can lose some weight in the process. If all goes well with the mini, I may go ahead and attempt that first marathon in the fall. I have my eyes set on two different possibilities right now: The Whistle Stop Marathon in Northern Wisconsin and The Chicago Marathon. While the one in Wisconsin looks great, I might save it for a second or third attempt because it looks much smaller. I hate coming in last, and I am pretty sure that won’t happen in Chicago. Besides, who wouldn’t want to spend a weekend in Chicago. We’ll see.

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I am thankful for days of doing nothing mixed in with ones of working nonstop.

Food: too many pancakes, juice, vegan lasagna, popcorn and cheese and apple, chocolate milk

Exercise: walked the dogs

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Posted in Food, Running

Vegan Lasagna

Posted on 16 January 2010 | Leave a comment

We went grocery shopping today, and I decided I wanted to try to make vegan lasagna, but not for any particular reason. My desire to do so was prompted by Meijer’s 10 for $10 sale, which included whole wheat pasta. Besides buying multiple boxes of other types of pasta, we bought lasagna noodles and because I was feeling up for a challenge, I put together the following recipe.

Ingredients:

  • 8 whole wheat lasagna noodles, cooked
  • two packages frozen spinach, thawed
  • one package frozen winter squash, thawed
  • one package of crimini mushrooms, sliced
  • half a head of cabbage, shredded or chopped
  • one package of tofu
  • one can of tomato sauce
  • one can of diced tomatoes
  • a couple of cloves of garlic, minced
  • some onion to taste
  • crushed red pepper, salt, pepper, basil, oregano, and other herbs to taste (If anything, put in more than you think will be necessary. Mine was a little bland.)

Process:

  1. Saute seasonings and garlic in some olive oil.
  2. Add in mushrooms, spinach, diced tomatoes and cook until mushrooms are tender.
  3. In a blender combine squash, tomato sauce, and tofu.
  4. Cover the bottom of a 9″x13″ glass casserole dish with nonstick spray, then spoon in some of the blender mix and a bit of the saute mix. You will want to use a slotted spoon for the saute mix, because it will be really juicy. Layer four noodles over the mix.
  5. On top of the noodles add half of the cabbage, pour over half of the remaining blender mix, spoon on half of the remaining saute mix, and then add the rest of the cabbage.
  6. Next layer on four more noodles, then the rest of the saute mix, and top it all with the left over blender mix, spreading it all over the top.
  7. Cover the whole pan with aluminum foil that has been sprayed with nonstick spray. Place it all in the oven at 350º for 60 minutes. Voila!

I thought the tofu in the tomato sauce and squash mix made it taste cheesy even without the cheese. I bought some vegan cheese to use, but I decided to do it without it once I tasted the heartiness of the mix. And, vegan cheese is always sketchy. If it wasn’t for the weird look of the mix on the top once it cooked, I think most people would think there was cheese inside. It looks like a creamy marina at the least, but it’s unsettling to see lasagna with a naked top and no gooey cheesy goodness. Except for the crunchiness of the cabbage, this tastes quite a bit like regular vegetarian lasagna.

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I am thankful for imagination and innovation in the kitchen.

Food: caramel corn from Christmas, vegan lasagna, sunflower seed bread with soy-peanut butter, bread and olive oil dip, soy milk, leftover pancake, banana, tea

Exercise: walked the dogs

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Posted in Food, PBJ, Vegetarian or Vegan

Commenting on Papers and Americanos.

Posted on 15 January 2010 | 1 comment

You can read the history of the Americano here, though the explanation is not very good. Coffee lore tells that the Americano, shots of espresso watered down with hot water thus resulting in something similar to drip coffee, was so named after European baristas, or coffeehouse employees, who thought American soldiers were strange for desiring brewed coffee over their preferred espresso began calling watered down espresso Americanos. Essentially, I think my favorite coffee drink is named after men like my grandfather who were perceived as wusses by Europeans. I can drink shots of espresso, but why would you want to when you can prolong the enjoyment with a little hot water, a splash of soy milk, and a dab of honey or raw sugar.

I enjoy the decaf variety, so I don’t get heart palpitations, which have only begun since I started running, not drinking beer, and cutting out caffeine and soda. I shudder when I think about what I did to my body before I began caring about what I was doing to my body. Apparently, I have to experience a clean body before I can really begin to appreciate how good it is to be healthy. I don’t like it when my heart races, I can’t imagine what it was like with 40 more pounds, and I much appreciate the lack of animal products in my veins. I feel good. At 35, I feel better than I have for most of my life.

I am sitting here at Starbucks, commenting on papers from last semester, so I can give them back to my students on Monday. I feel bad because they have been waiting for them for two weeks now, and I should have had them finished when break was over. I procrastinated, though, and I am just now finishing them up. It is challenging to force myself to comment on papers that I have already graded. I made a note to myself not to do that again. I think I really won’t, too.

On a totally unrelated note, I have been eating several things in the past few days that are advertised as raw food. I love it. I can say that if I didn’t love a nice hot piece of pizza or a nice hot plate of pasta, I could easily be a raw foodist. Since that diet is inherently vegan, it would be excellent for me. I just feel better when I don’t eat things that come from animals, and I can see the benefit of not cooking all the goodness out of food. I saw a good quote the other day that said, “If you aren’t vegan, you aren’t vegetarian.” I hadn’t thought of it that way. Interesting, but not entirely convincing.

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I am thankful for Abbie, Ed, and Iz. On an unrelated note, I am also thankful for reconciliation.

Exercise: walked the dogs twice, ran 3 miles

Food: banana, juice, Pure bar, soy milk, decaf chai tea, sloppy jane with cheese on a wheat bun, salad with strawberries and honey mustard, decaf americano, green tea, Two Moms in the Raw granola, pasta with veggies and edamame, ice cream

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Posted in Coffee, Fat, Food, Running, School, Teaching

Chocolate Chip Pancakes. Lots of Them.

Posted on 14 January 2010 | 6 comments

Tonight I went with an old friend to IHOP, so I could fill out a form for her. She wants to be in ministry/leadership training at her church. She goes to Madison Park Church, which has the most janky survey/recommendation sheet that I have ever seen for ministry positions in a church their size. Despite the fact that this sheet was for lay-ministry positions, you would think that a church like theirs would be able to actually use proper grammar and spelling on its forms. Also, I wanted to ask whoever decided to put some of the questions on the form, would any of the disciples or early church leaders have qualified for leadership positions in your church?

Seriously, the first question asks if the person is clean, hygenic, and dressed appropriately. Well, sorry, John the Baptist, but your camel skin loin cloth just doesn’t cut it, so we’ve not approved you for leadership. And, it’s a little creepy the way you keep eating locusts and yelling about straight paths.  It scares the children, so we think you might consider simply being a parishioner rather than trying to be a leader.

The second question leaves Peter out: does this person have an appropriate attitude for ministry? Because Peter, Paul, John, and other disciples/early leaders always maintained proper attitudes and played fair. How many ministry partners did Paul go through?

I don’t remember all of the questions verbatim, but the third question pretty much excludes anyone who takes the verse that says, “If anyone comes to me, and does not hate father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters, and even his or her own life, that person cannot be my disciple,” to heart. That Scripture, Luke 14:26, also throws out the question about mental health. Hating yourself is probably a sign of some mental illness, which theoretically disqualifies someone from leadership. I assume if the questions aren’t designed to weed people out based on their unfavorable characteristics, then they wouldn’t be asked. 

At any rate, I had lots of chocolate chip pancakes. It really makes no sense to run and bike and watch what I eat and then turn right around and eat seven pancakes covered with delicious chocolate chips and whipped cream. I couldn’t help myself; they had me at “All You Can Eat Pancakes 24 Hours a Day”! I also have two chocolate, chocolate chip pancakes in the refrigerator for breakfast tomorrow. Mmmm.

On the way to my house after dinner, we were talking about ethical corporations. I need to think more about my feelings toward companies attempting to live ethically. It is certainly one thing for a person to try to make ethical choices, but it is entirely another for an entire (sometimes multi-million dollar, several thousand employee) company to consistently make ethical choices.

It was interesting to hear Julie’s take on this topic since she has an MBA from Notre Dame. For the most part, I think we agree on this, but I am a little more strict on what I think it means to be an ethical business. Mostly, I think this is due to the fact that I want to hold companies to an individual ethical standard, forgetting that they are trying to make broad-scale decisions for many people and with a much more broad-sweeping impact on the world. Probably it is due to my lack of business experience and over-concern with some ethical issues.

I forget how difficult it is for me, as one person, to hold to my own created ethical standards. It must be infinite times more difficult for an entire company to uphold a consistent ethic. It’s sort of like extrapolating personal choices out multiple times and expecting them not to get watered down. How much more difficult is it to get a large group of people to buy into ethical ideas and behaviors and then to maintain those standards while still being able to make a profit? I would argue quite a bit.

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I am thankful that Jesus doesn’t require a questionnaire, and that I expect a certain level of corporate ethics from all businesses I support.

Exercise: walked from Burris to Puerto, from Burris to RB

Food: banana, juice, granola bar, potato enchiladas, rice, chips and salsa, decaf tall soy caramel macchiato, peanuts, chocolate chip pancakes

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Posted in Fat, Food, Grace, Relationships, Religion, Running

Dissertation, Schmissertation. Not Really.

Posted on 13 January 2010 | 1 comment

I received feedback on my dissertation proposal today, and I have some revisions to make. I feel pretty confident that I can get them finished by next Monday night and send Debbie a draft by Tuesday morning at the latest. I actually think I am going to enjoy this dissertation process because the most difficult thing about writing, for me, is knowing what to revise. I can look at my drafts and recognize that there is not enough of some ideas, too much of other ideas, and some ideas missing, but I can’t pinpoint what those ideas are. I can write all day about most topics, but without a second person looking through what I’ve written, I have a difficult time deciphering where to go from there. It was liberating today to have someone else essentially say , “You have some good stuff here, but you really need to work on organization and clarification. I know that you know what you are talking about, but your reader doesn’t necessarily know that you know what you are talking. Nor can your reader read between the lines. You must be very explicit.” I sort of already felt like I was writing for children in my level of explicitness, but apparently I wasn’t. See, that is why everyone needs someone else to look at their drafts: it never hurts to get a second opinion.

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It was my goal to start swimming again this week, but I think it will have to wait until next week. Apparently, next week is the week for exercise to begin, since I also begin my mini-training on Tuesday. It isn’t as if I haven’t been running, but on Tuesday, I really have to step it up because I want to run this beast; I don’t want to walk it for the fourth time. Between running and the cross-training of swimming, I hope to get in good enough shape to finish without walking, but if I have to walk a bit, no one will die from it.

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Finally, I was invited by a friend to go watch a Blackford girls basketball game and was delightfully surprised to learn upon my arrival that they were playing against Burris. About halfway through the game I realized two reasons to be even more thrilled about working there than I was before. The first reason has to do with the level of fitness of the Burris players. They really were running the Bruins up and down the court pretty well. I think their fitness level is a real tribute to our PE teacher and their level of commitment to their subject. Secondly, I was impressed at the level of sportsmanship the girls showed. Because the reffing was so horrible—probably the worst I have seen at a high school game in a long time—the Burris girls could have easily been poor sports, but they weren’t. Instead they held their heads high, and continued to play hard until the end of the game. At one point one of Burris’s girls was on the bottom of a pile of players and she ended up being the one called for the foul. It was pretty obvious that the referees either didn’t know what the heck they were doing, or were helping Blackford win. At any rate, I say Burris out-classed Blackford, so they were the real winners. And, I have to add that the Blackford girls were good sports as well, but the officiating was simply bad.

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I am thankful for girls’ sports.

Food: banana, granola bar, milk, juice, sloppy jane with cheese, grapefruit, veganhead, decaf coffee, peanut brittle, two peanut-butter cookies, popcorn

Exercise: dog walking, bike transporting

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Posted in Dissertation, Food, Running, Swimming