kale salad, chicken salad, and chopped salad

Let's jump past the hurdle of where I have been and just get into it, shall we? I won't waste your time with all of my boring runs and meals, I will just hit the highlights.

I have been doing really well with my weekday runs. The cooler weather has helped my motivation and gotten both Mike and I out for evening runs and out of bed for morning ones. My long runs are where I have suffered. Since I ran those 7 miles a few weeks ago, I haven't done another long one. I have been out of town or had people in town, so I just haven't had any interest in getting them done. I am getting back into it this weekend though, no excuses.

My half marathon training has me doing 3 miles on Tuesdays and Thursdays and 5 miles on Wednesdays. I usually play with my days a little bit and this week, I ran 3 miles on Wednesday and 5 miles this morning with the plan to run 3 miles tomorrow morning. But that will depend on which day this weekend that I plan on running 9 miles, because I definitely want a rest day before that. Either way, I am feeling pretty good about my runs and hoping that I can get back on track with the longer ones.

In some other fun running news, I have gotten a new pair of shoes! I loooved my Nike Relentless shoes and was really sad that it was time to let them go, but they were really worn out and actually started to give me major blisters from the worn material. I actually think that the blisters were the cause of my knee injury that I had talked about. I am pretty sure they made me shift my stride a bit, which misaligned my legs, so it was definitely time for a new pair of sneaks.

I took them out on a little mud trail for their last hoorah. :)

Mike and I decided to take advantage of a going out of business sale at one of the local running stores. They had running shoes for 50% off their original price, so we each got a pair for the price of one. I also scored a pair of thick running leggings for under $20, which will be perfect for winter running.

TWINSIES! :)

I am still getting used to my shoes since they are waaay more cushioned than my Nike's were. They are breaking in nicely, but I have noticed that the thick running socks that I needed to wear before, are almost too much for these shoes. Which is good since I have a ton of thin running socks that I couldn't wear before if I didn't want to get blisters.

Let's move on to the good stuff.... FOOD! Last weekend we spent our time with my favorite family, my sister and her hubby and kids. We had a great weekend just hanging out and playing with the kiddos and were sad to leave on Sunday. Before we left, my sister talked about prepping all of her lunches and dinners for the week to make life a little easier. When I got home, I decided to do the same by prepping a kale salad and some chicken salad for quick and easy lunches. I am so happy that I did!

Here are the recipes along with an extra recipe that I made a few weeks ago.


First up...  

 
Massaged Kale Salad! Seriously, I love kale. And I am not just saying that because it is really, really good for you, I loooove this stuff. The flavor is unlike any other lettuce and it is sooo filling!

Clean the kale using a salad spinner or paper towels
Cut off any bulky stems
Massage for a few minutes with just a little bit of olive oil. Start off with just a tablespoon and then add more as needed. You want the leaves to soften up, but not become soggy (which is what happened to mine).
Add a little bit of lime or orange juice to give it a citrus-y taste
Add in a handful of dried cranberries and shaved carrots
Top it off with just a sprinkle of sea salt and you are ready to go!

Health(ier) Chicken Salad

Buy a rotisserie chicken (like I did) or cook 2 large chicken breasts until fully cooked
Chop the chicken and add to a large bowl, then add:
1/3 cup plain greek yogurt
1/3 cup mayonnaise made with olive oil
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1 apple, cleaned and chopped
2 hard boiled eggs, chopped
Sea Salt and Pepper to taste

Mix together and enjoy! We have been using whole wheat pitas and it has been fantastic!

Chopped Salad 

Mike wanted a chopped salad recently, so instead of buying all the ingredients separately, I just went to Harris Teeter and grabbed a few things from their salad bar. It made this meal super easy to make and saved me a lot of money by only getting what I needed for a few salads.

1 head of romaine lettuce, cleaned and chopped


1 tomato, chopped
2 tablespoons blue cheese crumbles
2 tablespoons real bacon crumbles
2 hard boiled eggs, sliced
2 tablespoons honey dijon mustard dressing
2 thinly sliced steaks (1 extra for the pups)
Sea Salt and Pepper

Season your steaks with a little sea salt and pepper. Grill in a pan until desired temperature (I tried to do medium rare, but it was pretty difficult with these thin steaks). I added my romaine to a bowl and tossed with the dressing before adding the rest of the ingredients. Then just pile everything on top of your lettuce, leaving the steaks for last.

Since the steak was cheap and they boys were good, I made them their own steak to share. It is amazing how they just seemed to know that I had made them one.

Well, I hope this was a nice long post to catch you up on things. I hope to be able to post again tomorrow! Have a great end of your week!