The Ups and Downs of September

Since I was slow to blog in September, I decided to summarize the month in pictures.

My birthday was quiet but the biggest and best surprise of all was my Grandma's recipe boxes AND Grandma's recipes from my Aunt Paula - what a wonderful surprise.

My Grandma's Recipe Boxes
Notice the first recipe is "Pigeon Church Lefse" - YUM!

The first day of school was really rough for everyone.  Here's the actual pictures which I never dared to share on Facebook when everyone else's kids looked so dang happy.



Graham's first day of high school - no chance he'd smile for me

Mom, no pictures today please
Notice, no picture of Gus - he was the one who would've smiled for me!

In their defense, the kids were moving into a new school and I know for a fact they were nervous. 

But, by the 3rd day of school we got everything figured out again:

The 3 G's - ready for school!

Graham started the football season off with a bang and did a FANTASTIC job on offense and defense and we LOVED watching him play.

Then he broke his arm playing football and will be in a cast until mid-December.

We went camping at Twin Lakes Campground in Drummond (OMG, beautiful) and had a great time except our tent collapsed during a rain storm one night and we had to head home in the middle of the night.  Good thing we were close to home.

Our tent collapsed as we were trying to sleep.  Too funny.

My cousin and I saw the ABSOLUTELY amazing band the Indigo Girls at the Big Tent.  There's something magical about Big Top Chautaqua in Bayfield and I can't wait to go back next year.  And the Indigo Girls just rocked the house.  AMAZING!!!

Erinn and I pre-concert - catching up by Lake Superior
I'm so lucky to have such an awesome cousin!

I finished my first marathon!!!!  Read about my marathon here.

26.2 - done!

Gus won a hula hoop contest at Fall Fest in Hayward.

Hula Hoop winner!  We do not even own a hula hoop but we'll have to get one!!

Greta won a baking contest at the Cable Fall Fest (more on that next week).

Greta with her prizes for winning the baking contest

Plus we did a ton of canning, cooking, gardening and went to many Varsity Football games (Greta cheered one night).  My favorite recipe for September:    Zucchini Crust Pizza.   And now we are ready for Fall!!!

What's your favorite part of Fall?

Thanks for reading,

Kristin

Zuchinni Crust Pizza

I've tried a lot of recipes over the last month with my in-season veggies from my garden, but as I mentioned earlier - my marathon focus (story here...) prevented me from actually taking a picture and blogging.  But, one recipe that was my absolute favorite:  Zucchini Crust Pizza.

I read the book Wheat Belly over the last month and it really convinced me that I need to reduce my wheat / gluten consumption so I'm always looking for gluten free recipes and this one fit the bill.  I tweaked it to fit the ingredients I had on hand.

Here it goes:

Ingredients

• 2 cups zucchini, finely grated, lightly packed
• ½-3/4 cup rice flour (or regular flour)
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 Tablespoon coconut oil (or vegetable)
• ½ teaspoon oregano
• ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
• ⅛ teaspoon salt

Instructions

1. Place the grated zucchini in a strainer.
2. Sprinkle the zucchini with some salt, toss it to disperse.
3. Place the strainer over a large bowl, and let the zucchini drain for about 30 minutes.
4. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
5. Place the grated zucchini into a dry dish towel, and wring the towel over the sink until the water from the zucchini is squeezed out.
6. Mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl.
7. Add flour as needed to make a dough (not too wet, not too dry).
8. On a parchment-lined baking sheet, spread the zucchini mix out into an oval shape. I use a fork to do this, and I press it down to compact it as well.
9. Place the pan on the bottom rack of the oven and bake for 20 minutes.

1. Remove the crust.
2. Turn the oven up to 500 degrees.
3. Top the pizza with sauce and cheese, vegetables (I used artichokes and olives)
4. Place the pan back into the oven on the bottom rack and bake for 3-4 minutes. Again, place the pan on the top rack for about 2 minutes.
5. Remove and let cool for 5-10 minutes to let everything set.

Zucchini Crust Pizza - baked on my Grandma's pan


This picture does not do this recipe justice but I have to tell you we LOVED it!!!  And, it's a good way to get rid of that extra zucchini.

Happy Saturday!
Kristin
 

My First Marathon - Check

I can finally check a marathon off my bucket list (woohoo!).   I did not just complete any marathon, but a SUPER hilly challenging course unlike any other called the American Birkebeiner Train Run.  The elevation is equivalent to climbing the Empire State Building 3 times in 26.2 miles - yup there's some crazy-steep hills!!

This race meant so much to me for so many reasons.  I was never athletic in high school or college and up until 5 years ago, I had never run before.  I'm 43, work full-time with 3 busy kids and I certainly do not have the body shape of your typical marathoner.  But, I took the risk, signed up, trained and I did it.  Now, if I can run a marathon I believe that anything is possible and I'll never underestimate myself again.

Here's my tips on how to meet your fitness goal:

1.  Schedule it:   if you have you it written in your schedule you have a better chance of not filling your time with other stuff.  And don't fool yourself, your physical health is extremely important and you need to take care of yourself. 

I prefer to workout first thing in the morning before my day gets filled up with other stuff AND I do not want to give myself a lot of time to think about that 20 mile run.  If you get up, meet your partners, and get to it you are more likely to make it happen.  On one of our 18 milers we met for the car drop off around 4:30 a.m.  Yes, it kinda' sucked but we got it done.

2.  Partner up:  meeting up with friends to exercise makes your time more enjoyable, you are accountable to show up, and it's the best free therapy you could ever ask for.  Also, my running friends were so supportive and also gave me the best tips from nutrition, sports bras to shoes.  Luckily my friend Stacey agreed to take on this crazy challenge with me (even though she's much faster it worked well to train together).

Stacey and me pre-marathon!

3.  Sign up:  by signing up a race you are committed to figure out a training plan.  Having friends to sign up for something similar also helps. 

4.  Switch things up:  living in Wisconsin means I have 4 glorious seasons and I change my workout schedule 4 times a year.  For this marathon, I only ran 3 times a week and the other 3 days I biked, swam or participated in yoga.  For me, running 3 times a week seems to be the magic number.  Last year I ran more and ended up with an injury.   Of course you have to do what works for you.

And here's what I learned from my marathon training:

1.  Perseverance!!!  Seriously, I almost quite training for the marathon after a bad 11 mile run and then a bad 13 mile run.   My friend Colleen paced me on the next 14 mile run and I found success - I felt great!  Had I quit after those 2 bad runs I never would have met my goal of being a Birkie Warrior.

2.  Focus:  While I usually have my eye on some sort of a goal, I have never experienced focus like I experienced for this marathon.  The marathon seemed to be all I could think about. The Sunday after the race I literally felt like I woke up from a dream / nap.  I looked around and realized so many areas I had let slide because my focus had been so laser sharp.  I had paid the mortgage and electricity, fed my kids and made sure they had clean underwear - BUT that's about it!  Everything else I had really let slide (including my blog)..  Let's just say I have a lot of make-up work to do BUT IT WAS WORTH IT!

3.  Pacing works:  For the Birkie Trail Marathon they have some tight cut off times in place, and I had a lot of anxiety about making the cut.  So, the morning before the race I wrote down the times I needed to safely make the cut-off points (i.e. - mile 3 - 8:35 am, mile 5 - 9:07 am, etc.).  Not only did this ease my anxiety, but as I reached each 2 mile spot on track or ahead of schedule I gave myself an internal high five.  Plus it was a great distraction. 

My Pacing Arms - thanks for Amy Rowley for taking the pic!

4.  I have so much to be grateful for:   I'm mostly grateful for all of my Ski and Tea sisters that stuck around to see me finish.  My marathon was slow and I had many of my ski and tea sisters that completed other races that day and they either met me on the trail or cheered me in at the end.  Chad had to work and I had to get a babysitter for my kids so I didn't expect to see anyone at the finish but instead I had running friends who cheered me through the finish line.  Dang, I'm blessed and I'm so grateful to those of you that cheered me on that day or sent me energy from afar.

So, what's your goal?  After my marathon experience, I really believe that anything is possible if you put your mind to it.

Have a great weekend!!

Kristin