August 23rd, 2009: Traditional

Hi my pretties! Today was a glorious Sunday but it went by way too fast! I got up at 7am to get to work on my longest run since the half in May. I will say that I was a bit nervous! I had a few nibbles of a small square of the oat bars I made yesterday. I made these specifically for before runs. This way I could precut them up into smaller portion sizes, or the perfect pre-run size. The one I pulled out was a bit bigger so I had half of it.

It was a fantastic morning for a run! And by that I mean it was nice and cool. So cool I had to wear capris and a long sleeved shirt. So nice! I was scheduled to do 5 miles today but accidentally went over that by 1/2 a mile and did 5.5 total. Whoops! It felt great though! I didn’t feel tired and my legs did not feel like lead. I think the cooler morning helped. My time was 1:00 on the dot! Not quite the under 10:30 mile/min I was running but less than 11 min so I’ll take it! In all honesty I was really happy with that time, especially considering I haven’t run this distance in months!
Chocolate soymilk

When I got home, I slammed a huge glass of CS and then had the other half of the oat bar because I was starving. I took Rocky out for a walk and we would have gone farther but I was freezing cold. I put on a hoodie before we left but I was still chilly. After foam rolling and stretching like crazy, I took a very long and super hot shower. Ahhhh it felt so good!

Coffee, yogurt, and granola

Then I came down to have some coffee and a snack.

Finally some decent coffee up in here! And some 2% Fage with homemade granola. YUM! But that wasn’t enough for this sister. I was still starving.

Oat bar

Cue my second oat bar of the day. :o These things are addicting and I’m chalking that up to the addition of chocolate chips. So good! In fact they are so tasty, that Scott could not stop picking at them yesterday. :p I was all comfy on the couch with my eats, coffee, laptop, and Food TV.

Eventually my loves got up and we chatted, talked about Frankenstein, and what to do with our Sunday. Then I had to make breakfast before I got too hungry. I spotted Bobby Flay make scrambled eggs with goat cheese and knew I needed this in my bellah!

Scrambled eggs

So I made it! Two eggs and some egg whites with whole grain mustard mixed in as I beat them. I sauteed some green onion and chopped spinach in some olive oil then added the eggs. Then I added in a little bit of salmon (from a pouch) and the goat cheese. A very froo-froo egg dish, indeed!

12 grain toast

12 grain toast on the side with a smidge of butter.

Smoothie

And a smoothie! Goodness this was just what I needed!

  • 1C US cranberry juice
  • 1C pineapple juice
  • 1C carrot juice
  • Kale
  • 1 banana
  • 1/2C fresh pineapple
  • Frozen mango
  • Frozen blueberries

Not a pretty color but damn tasty.

Smoothie, toast, eggs, sausage, and fruit

We also had chicken breakfast sausage and watermelon on the side. Naturally when I only make a slice of toast for each of us, I want more. I kicked everything today and it was fantastic. I was finally full and satisfied!

I cleaned up the kitchen and then had to get some bloggy work done. I have a lot of ideas I’m trying to bring alive! I would have rather been on the couch with my boys but sometimes you just have to work.

Around 5pm, we wrapped everything up for the day to hang out, snack, and get dinner going. I had about 5 chips, not photographed. I was deciding if I wanted a snack and then realized that I will be having wine and possible dessert later, so I put them away. Then I started dinner prep. Very traditional Sunday Supper here at the HQ today! I must admit that there are times when I just love spending loads of time in the kitchen making a great meal.

Because of the cold weather snap, on the menu today was roasted chicken breasts with roasted root veggies. Very classic fall dish. Presenting before:

Chicken breasts about to be roasted And after:

Roasted chicken breasts

We have loads of meat items that need to get used up. Because our meat intake has drastically reduced, we just aren’t going through freezer items like we used to. My plan is to make these items, have small pieces and then freeze the cooked portions that I can then pull out at random for Scott in the future. :D

Skin-on, bone-in chicken breasts (the best kind!) with a spicy dry rub, and baked at 350.

Roasting with the chicken were carrots, red onion, cubed baby yukon potatoes with a jalapeno and a lime for depth and kick. All together in a bit of chicken broth and white wine.

Roast chicken My portion.

Roasting in the second oven (I love my range!) by themselves were:

Roasted parsnip Roasted beets

Parsnips, beets, and a turnip. All drizzled simply with olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. My turnip closeups didn’t turn out.  Boo!

Cauliflower and zucchini

There were leftover veggies from yesterday.

Carrots and potatoes And the carrots and potatoes!

Roasted veggies and chicken

And also some pepperjack polenta!  Look at all those veggies. MMMM this was such a great dinner!  It was root veggie heaven!  This was my first time having roasted beets and parsnip and my first time ever having turnip.  Oh they were so good! I don’t understand people who say they don’t like veggies.  What the wha?!  I loved everything and can’t wait to have it again!

The thing I love most about Sundays is keeping it sort of traditional. We have Sunday breakfast and a big Sunday dinner. Growing up this wasn’t something my family did. The weekends, except for dinner, everyone was on their own. Sunday dinners were usually a crockpot dinner that we could pick at whenever.  And that was okay! Scott’s grandmother used to make Sunday breakfast and dinner but that stopped once she passed.

When we moved in together, we needed to create our own traditions. This is something I feel every couple should do. It helps you bond and connect with each other. And this goes for roommates too! There’s a reason you’re drawn to each other, so make that connection stronger.

One thing that appealed to us was the idea of a very traditional Sunday, so that’s what I created! Sunday is for family. I try to make sure we have no plans outside of the house on Sunday. Sometimes we can’t avoid it but for the most part we succeed. Sunday is very relaxed, no rushing around allowed! And we have Sunday Breakfast and Sunday Supper at the HQ. We eat at the dining room table, or in our case, the kitchen table.

It's us!This is us on a typical Sunday at the HQ.  Usually in our jammies, and for me, no makeup and hair tossed back in a headband.  Are you loving the green yellow nose? :p

Us eating

Having meals at the table allows us to reconnect and regroup with each other before heading into another work week. We mellow out, I try and keep dinner easy which is why there’s a lot of roast type meals. Of if it is more involved, try to prep early as much as I can while Scott is still sleeping. Forty’s music is usually on the radio while we chat and dinner is cooking.  Sometimes Scott takes me for a spin around the kitchen. :D  Even when I make breakfast, we usually have 40s on. There’s wine in the evenings post dinner while we chill on the couch.

Speaking of, I must get to that!

How do you all like to spend your Sundays? :D

Till tomorrow all!

9 thoughts on “August 23rd, 2009: Traditional

  1. Looks like you had an amazing Sunday! 8-)

    We’ve established a bit of a Sunday tradition, as well: this is the only day of the week that I cook breakfast! Usually, it’s pancakes for me and eggs, bacon and toast for the hubs (with an occasional meat variation).

    Life can be so hectic that it’s great to be able to spend this time with our sweeties! 8-)

  2. Oh my gosh, I am the same traditional sap for Sundays. We always have a nice big Sunday breakfast together while sipping on cofee over the Sunday paper. Then, we usually run errands or clean together and prepare a big traditional Sunday dinner. It’s just splendid and we really look forward to these days. I think its so important to instill these traditions into your own family.

    Glad you guys had a fantastic day. :)
    PS- Great job on the run!

  3. I love the idea of reserving Sunday to spend time with your loved ones, no rushing allowed! Your roasted veggies looks amazing and make me crave fall weather!

    When I’m home from school, I love to spend time with my parents on Sundays, since I barely get to see them. We usually run errands together, do our food shopping and clean the whole house and then all chillax together!

    Nice job on the run!

  4. Great job on the run! That’s fantastic. I love your traditional Sundays–I treat mine the same as Saturday: try to relax some, clean, and also take care of the to-do list :)

  5. Great picture of you guys – as usual!

    Love that chicken dish – it looks scrumptious. You know what I hate though? i wish veggies retained their really super bright colors after cooking! it always looks so nice and bright going in, and coming out – it’s all dull shades. :)

  6. The Vet and I pretty much eat dinner together every night. This can be rough on my other relationships – he doesn’t like to go anywhere, so it does preclude me from having the dinners out with friends on a regular basis that were a staple of my life when I was single. But, I really feel that this is an important time for us to share, so I try to schedule times with friends during lunch or breakfast instead. Or, not even have my time with friends revolve around food.

  7. Well, between Sept – January, our Sundays often revolve around the Seahawaks game. yes, you’re jealous, aren’t you? ;) But, we honestly tend to do a lot of our errands on Sundays, like going to Costco and the veggie stand, whereas Saturdays are more like the “play day.” It kind of reminds me of how I was in college in that I’d have fun on Saturday but use Sunday to catch up on all the homework.

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