Roasted Vegetable Frittata

This recipe was adapted from Fitness.com's recipe. You can do so many things with this. Change up the veggies, add different kinds of cheese, make in bulk to have on hand for quick meals. Have fun with it!

Ingredients
Nonstick cooking spray
1-2 tbs EVOO
1 medium red bell pepper, seeded and cut into quarters
3 garlic cloves, unpeeled
1 large zucchini, cut into 3-1/2-inch strips
1 medium onion, cut into 1/2-inch slices
1 stalk of broccoli
1 teaspoon salt
4 eggs plus 6 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 cup finely shredded Parmesan
   

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Lightly spray the bottom of 2 shallow pans. Place bell peppers and garlic in one pan and zucchini, onion and broccoli in the other pan.

2. Lightly spray or brush vegetables with oil. Roast zucchini and onion on lower rack and bell peppers and garlic on center rack 15 minutes.

3. Remove zucchini and onion from oven. Move bell peppers and garlic to lower rack; roast about 10 minutes more or until charred. Remove from oven and let stand 5 minutes. Remove skin from peppers and garlic. Coarsely chop vegetables and garlic and place in a large bowl.

4. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees. Coat a 9-x-1-1/2-inch round cake pan with cooking spray. In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs and egg whites, and salt. Stir egg mixture into vegetable mixture; stir in Parmesan. Pour mixture into cake pan.

4. Bake, uncovered, in oven 45 to 50 minutes or until center is set. Remove from oven and let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Chasing the Wind

If you run without any reason, you are just chasing the wind.

Wesley Korir, 2012 Boston Marathon Winner

Whether you want to lost those last 5 pounds, perform an un-assisted pull-up, run your first 5k, half or full marathon, or eat better.....we all have goals.

What is the purpose of doing something if you don't have a goal, right? Think about it for a minute. If you're reading this blog, you probably like working out. How much time do you spend working out? Do you ever ask yourself what is it you're after?
This time of year, I am usually starting to train for a fall half marathon. Unfortunately, I am not sure if I will be able to run one in the fall. There aren't any nearby (under an hour away) until after the first of the year.

I have already signed up for the ING Miami marathon and am hoping the third time is the charm for an injury free training and race. I start that training cycle in October.

So until that training cycle begins, I will try to improve my speed. Going by my half marathon PR (2:02), I should have a 4:30 marathon, no problem. I have yet to see that time. Not even close.

I had no idea what I was doing during my first marathon. No clue about pacing whatsoever. The hills in San Fran killed me. I don't know if you've been to South Florida, but the only hills we have is bridges. My second marathon was a few months after San Fran. My IT band was shot by mile 14. I should have quit the race. Instead, I was determined to finish. Not good. I paid for that by taking a few months off after. The third mistake I made was while training for ING Miami 2012. I ran my long training runs too close to goal pace. I thought this was a confidence builder. Some people can run MP (marathon pace) without getting injured. I can't. Lesson learned.

My goals right now, are not all fitness related. I am working on being more consistent in my quiet times and am still doing the Nehemiah bible study. I am working on trying more new recipes. I am working on playing with my kids more and working less. This means managing my time better. I am working out less, but managing to keep my fitness. I am working on being thankful for things, even when it's been a long day and I have been struggling with patience.

These little guys had my patience worn real thin at the grocery store today. This is the time when I say to my husband, "Your sons did........". They are "his" sons when they are misbehaving, right? Don't let their cuteness deceive you. I was getting all kinds of glares at the grocery store today. They make some interesting noises.

Thankful these guys have each other. I pray that they will grow up close to each other.

So while I don't necessarily have a crazy fitness related goal right now, it's totally ok. I make the most of my time with HIIT. I still run 3 days per week. Since there's not a race anytime soon, I can focus on my family, household, and finding balance. That's what we're all after in the long run, right?

What are your goals? Are they fitness related or more self improvement? Are you chasing the wind?


Wesley Korir, 2012 Boston Marathon winner

Salsa Chicken

Have you ever found a recipe and make it only to wonder why you didn't know of it sooner? This recipe is one of those. I wish I had known of this years ago. You can make variations of it. The ingredients are easy to keep on hand and use in a pinch. The best part? You stick it in the crock pot and forget about it until dinner time.

I know there are variations all over the web, but here's how I make mine.

Ingredients:
4 boneless chicken breasts (you can use frozen)
1 can of black beans rinsed and drained
1 jar of pace picante salsa
8oz. cream cheese (optional)

1. Throw everything in the crockpot and cook on low for 8 hours.
2. 30 minutes before it is finished, add the cream cheese.
3. Use a ladle to drain excess fluid.
4. Shred chicken using two large forks.

I like to make burritos with these. This recipe makes plenty. It can be dinner for 2 nights, or dinner for one night and a few lunches.

Enjoy!

Thankful Thursday

Whoa! Lots of happenings here. I haven't been staying up late to do any blogging, as you may or may not have noticed. I am working out. Some days I am less motivated than others, but I manage to squeeze in my workouts. Instead of the boring deets on my workouts, here is my thankful list.

1. Early morning runs. As much as I grunt, moan, and complain about getting up early, I really do love it. It's the best time of the day for me to run.

2. Because of #1, I come home and get quiet time.  This allows me to stay on top of the Nehemiah study, by Kelly Minter. I am learning so much, and can't wait to get together with this girl to chat about it.

3. Challenges! Bob Harper, trainer from the Biggest Loser posted a Death by Burpees WOD on Instagram. What is it? Seven minutes of non-stop burpees. So yesterday, after completing a back/hamstring/shoulders workout, I decided to do it. I was fatigued from my workout, so I ended up doing only 57 burpees. You better believe I will be doing this again! I was drenched with sweat.

Ahhh! No make-up!

4. Monday night small group. I am involved with a ministry at church and am so blessed to be a part of. We are studying "Seed" by Priscilla Shirer.

Psalm 84:11

5. Family. We celebrated my Mom's birthday on Sunday. What is a Mexican birthday without a sombrero?

6. Clean eats and a hubby who eats them with me. He will try all of my crazy healthy recipes.

7. Technology. While the Muffin is away on her mission trip, I can see and talk to her. She doesn't have Wifi (My mom pronounces it Weefee! lol!) right now, but I've spoken to her almost every day.

8. Fro-yo. Who doesn't love Fro-yo dates?

9. Snuggle time.

10. Sunsets. I like to take time and appreciate the beautiful things that only our Creator can make.

This week has been a rough week with balancing things, so I wanted to post something positive. What are you thankful for this week?

Craziness- The Reader's Digest Version

I started this post last week and it never got published. So this is a catch-up post. Bear with me.

I woke up on Monday after a crazy busy weekend, not really wanting to go to the gym. That seems to be the mood I've been in lately. It happens when I am too busy to workout, but know that if I don't squeeze one in, it's not a pretty site.

I don't know about you, but my workouts are my sanity. With three kids, two of which are attached to me at the hip. Mama needs to get her endorphin fix.

Monday- Spin

I rolled out of bed a little later than normal. Made breakfast for everyone and scrambled over to spin class. This was my first spin class in probably a month. My schedule hasn't permitted me to go lately.

I got a good sweat on and called it a day. I think I burned like 560 calories. It was more than the usual.

Tuesday- 5 mile bridge run, bi's and tri's

4:20am alarm

I will spare you the details of the convo in my head. I was not in a good mood. I had a bad night's sleep and woke up with a headache.

To top things off, today we were running the bridge. Here in Florida, our hills are bridges. I haven't done any bridge work this year. With my IT band injury flaring up before ING Miami, bridges are not an option.

I'm better now, so to the bridge it is! There was a group of about 15 runners. All paces. It was a fun run. I planned on going over the bridge once and back, but went back for some more. I am a glutton for punishment. I figured if I got out of bed at 4:20am, I might as well make it worth it.

Oh, and after my run, my bad mood was gone! Funny how that happens. Thank you endorphins for giving me an attitude adjustment.

Then I came home and took care of my mommy duties and headed to the gym for a quick bi and tri superset workout. I had 20 minutes to spare before taking my boys to see the $1 movie.

I stopped and bought the Nehemiah study by Kelly Minter. A friend and I are doing the study together. I am looking forward to it.

Wednesday- Fourth of July
Workout- throwing a 4th of July party for about 45 individuals from the college and career ministry from church.

That's right. It was a workout.

Thursday and Friday

Workout- sitting in a room for hours on end listening to over-bearing parents ask the same questions at freshman orientation.

That was a workout too. Bonus- getting only 5 hours of sleep Wednesday night.

The kids checking out the dorms.

And no, she's not living on campus. We live too close to the school.

Saturday- 8 mile long run.

It was glorious. Getting a good sweat after ingesting too many treats on the 4th was nice.

We also met up with some family that was in town from Texas. There was a birthday party, a pinata, and lots of kids.

Pinata line.

We did a mini-census to determine how many grandkids and great-grandkids my parents have. Survey says....

38 grandkids and 20 great-grandchildren

This is only a third of the grandkids. We may have to start renting a convention center for family functions.

Sunday is always a rest day, especially after all of that craziness.

We estimated total family members from my parents down would be 82. Cra-cray, right? That's inlcuding spouses, s/o's, baby daddy's, etc....

How many family members do you have?

Do you have hills or bridges nearby to run?