Holy sore muscles! – a workout recap and thoughts about pumpkins

Thank. Goodness. It’s. Friday.

I mean, seriously.

I’m not sure how I survived this week.

source

I resorted to candy.

Sometimes, a girl just needs chocolate to survive.

These pumpkins, however, are the bane of my existence.

Halloween is the WORST time of year for me.

I can survive Easter pretty safely, I’m not big into a lot of Christmas-type candy, but the minute the ghosts, goblins, and skeletons start hitting the store, I’m in trouble.  The pumpkins literally call my name.  And, clearly, resistance is futile.

The good news is the bag will be gone soon.  I have the tendency to eat them until my teeth hurt and then, because I’m smart, I’ll keep eating them.   I had about 10 of them last night for dessert.  After my dinner of a bowl of cereal.

I’m not proud of these moments in my life.

Oh well.  Everybody’s gotta have something, right? 🙂

Aaaand, moving on…..

It’s Time for a Weekly Workout Roundup! (said in Kramer’s “Movie Phone” voice)

So, I’ll just give you the trailers highlights.

Monday

A chipper.

Why is called a chipper?  I have no idea.  It certainly didn’t make me very CHIPPER to see 65# snatches on there!

But, the good news is, I DID THEM!!!  Ahem, that’s a PR for me. 🙂

I was slow as dirt but I did all of them and finished the WOD in a respectable time.  Don’t ask me what it was because I can’t remember.

Tuesday

Rest day.  Remember?  Monday Night Football.

Wednesday

Seriously,  “50 burpees FOR TIME” as a skillset?  Um, yeah, that took me about 5 1/2 minutes.  Good grief.

The actual WOD was fun though.  Kind of an “active recovery” day that just kept your heart rate up.

Thursday

Holy mother of God, Thursday.

I Rx’d this WOD.

Seriously, did you hear what I just said?  I Rx’d it.

That means I did 72 back squats at 95#.

72!!!

Friday

I decided I needed a run.  A “recovery” run.  I needed to get the lead out of my legs.  My legs are BEAT from yesterday.  So, I ran.

Bliss.

Questions:  What holiday is the worst for your waistline?

– jennifer

Hearty Italian Sausage and Potato Skillet

After a long day yesterday of running, work and eating all of the jelly beans on the planet, I was not really in the mood for cooking. But, alas, I was actually hungry as were the rest of my brood so, I had to cook.

Now, let’s pause for a second and talk about those jelly beans. Why must I feel like I need to eat the entire bag? *sigh* Thank goodness I didn’t but Easter and Halloween really bring out my sweet tooth. You’d think I would know better than to buy a bag of something I can’t resist (jelly beans, mellowcream pumpkins, candy corn) but, somehow, I always end up with a bag on the conveyor and, Whoops! Just paid for it. So, of course I have to eat them.  It wouldn’t be right if I didn’t.  I mean, can’t let a perfectly good *insert candy type here* go to waste, right? 🙂

But, I digress.  Dinner.  Cooking.  So, I had some Aidell’s Chicken Sausage (Italian Style with Mozzarella Cheese) and I needed something to do with it.  I frequently cook the sausage and add it to pasta sauce or I’ll just saute some peppers and serve the sausages with the peppers and some crusty bread.  I didn’t feel like doing that.  I always do those things.  I wanted something different.  And, I found it!  An amazing, ready in less than 30 minutes, and delicious dinner recipe.  And really, you could use any type of italian sausage in this recipe – your choice.  It will still be fabulous.  And you will be happy.  And your brood will eat.

Hearty Italian Sausage and Potato Skillet
Recipe from Dash Recipes
Serves 4

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 pound Italian sausage
1/2 sweet onion, chopped into 1/2-inch pieces
1 pound red potatoes, chopped into 1/2-inch pieces
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat; add sausages and cover. Cook until brown, turning once. After sausages are browned, add onion, potatoes, salt and pepper. Cover. Stir often.

2. Remove sausages once they are mostly cooked through. Spread potatoes out in skillet and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Slice sausages into 1/2-inch pieces and return to pan. Add rosemary, garlic, and half of the tomatoes. Cook about 5 minutes or until tomatoes are cooked. Add basil and remaining tomatoes; stir to combine.

4. Gobble it up! Who needs plates?

Reindeer Noses

I seem to have become addicted to Pinterest. I haven’t decided if that’s good or bad yet. I seem to spend more time on there than necessary but then again, because of that, I find yummy recipes such as this one – Reindeer Noses. Tis the season and while I tend to wait to put up the tree and our decorations, I am all about Christmas music and Christmas candy!  I will happily Fa la la la la while baking and sampling along the way. (Know what? It’s a good thing I run otherwise all that sampling could become a problem!) 🙂

Now, back to the Reindeer Noses. You may be asking, “What the heck?” Well, I’ll tell you! They are an amazingly simple combination of salty and sweet. Three ingredients: pretzels, Hershey’s kisses, and M&M’s. Really, that’s it! Although, I suggest you buy more kisses than you need because the process will likely go like this….unwrap kiss and place on pretzel, unwrap kiss and place in mouth, unwrap kiss and place on pretzel, unwrap kiss and place in mouth…. ha! Nothing wrong with that but just make sure you save enough for the noses. 🙂

This is so simple and so tasty. In fact, I’m not sure why you haven’t gotten what you need to make them yet. Go! Off to the store with you! The recipe will be here when you get back. 🙂

Reindeer Noses

1 10 ounce bag of waffle pretzels
1 10 ounce bag of Hershey’s kisses
1 10 ounce bag of red and green M&M’s

1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees.

2. Place pretzels on parchment paper covered baking sheet.

3. Unwrap one Hershey’s kiss for each pretzel and place on top.

4. Bake 4-6 minutes until kisses are soft.

5. Remove from oven and press one M&M into each kiss.

6. Allow to cool completely.

7. Open mouth and insert delicious salty sweet treat!