Running Again After Injury

I grumbled, bitched and moaned my way through my week and half off running due to injury, and finally went out for a spin this past Thursday.  I did a short (but fast!) three miles on Thursday that left me feeling spent, but happy to be back.  Saturday I decided to do a longer run and did a slow five miles.  Slow because my body felt really out of whack.  Mentally, I was totally in the game.  In fact, I even sprung, pop-tart like, from bed that morning in anticipation of enjoying the beautiful weather.  But my legs just weren't having it.  I felt like I had the wrong legs and mine were running swiftly somewhere on someone else's body.  It was bizarre.  E ran with me and felt out of alignment as well, so it was quite a run.

I went on another run yesterday, just three miles (instead of my planned 4), and felt the same.  Running home, and paying attention, really focusing on how I was feeling made me realize that my issues were most likely my hip flexors.  They were so tight!  I got home and hit the floor for some pigeon and bound angle, and it seemed to help.  I will find out tonight when I try for four miles!  My 10-mile Halloween Pumpkin Run is coming up in two weeks, so being able to get some good mileage in before that is really important to me.  Regardless though, it felt so good to get back out and moving this weekend.  I've really started to crave cardio!

On another note, I made Spaghetti Squash for the first time!  I also made applesauce, which was also a fun experience.

The Cookbook Club - First Recipe: Mega Meat Stuffed Shells

I was recently invited to take part in The Cookbook Club,  and our recipe for this month was Mega Meat Stuffed Shells from Rachel Ray's 2, 4, 6, 8 Great Meals for Couples or Crowds.  I will start by saying I tend to tweak recipes a lot - for the most part I try to follow them, but from years of baking and experimenting in that realm, it's bled over into my cooking (baking experiments = tasty results, cooking experiments= bland or not-so-delicious results).   

Pre-oven shells

For this, I started by substituting the ground beef with lean ground turkey, which does naturally have a little less flavor than ground beef, but is still pretty tasty.  I also skipped the diced onions, due to Elton's dislike of them.  And my last sub was entirely inadvertent because I don't always follow directions well.  I neglected to add "Parmesan" to my list, so instead it was done with fat-free shredded mozzarella.  In hindsight, I should have balanced the blander cheese and meat with a heartier flavor in the sauce or blended into the meat.

The red sauce turned out quite tasty, though I didn't extract all the red pepper flakes and garlic like the recipe called for (this was more due to my inability to get it all out than a premeditated desire), I think.

The ease of the recipe was great, and it was really fun to try something a littler different - I haven't made stuffed shells in years!  Overall, I really enjoyed this recipe.  I have done a few Rachel Ray recipes before and they have never disappointed and this was definitely no exception!