Tasty Tuesday: Jalapeno Cheese Turkey Burgers
August 21, 2012 by · 3 Comments
Surely, you all remember how Beth read This Is Why You’re Fat and if you recall Jackie Warner includes a section of recipes in her book. She really sets you up for success with breakfast, lunch, dinner and side recipes all courtesy of Sunfare. Well, when Beth got to the recipe section sticky tabs were pulled out and put on recipes that especially caught her eye – one being Jalapeno Cheese Turkey Burgers. Definitely a sucker for any recipe that includes jalapenos!
This recipe is pretty easy to make and shouldn’t take much time at all to prepare!
Ingredients:
5 ounces ground turkey
1 teaspoon chopped parsley
Garlic to taste
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
1 ounce jack cheese, shredded
You might have noticed from the ingredients that you are only using 5 ounces of ground turkey meat and if you are like me and buy the Jenni-O turkey then that’s 20 ounces of turkey meat. Well, if you’re also like me you’ll just make the whole package of turkey meat instead of simply making one serving. So plan accordingly to quadruple the rest of the ingredients.
First you will want to combine the ground turkey, chopped parsley and garlic in a mixing bowl. Salt and pepper to taste. Then mix your jalapenos and jack cheese together and set aside.
The first time I made this I didn’t fully read the jalapeno and jack cheese part where you set it aside so I mixed it in with the turkey meat. If you want to do this it’ll turn out great that way too! I think I actually prefer it that way, but from here I’ll carry on with the regular instructions.
See I’d already put in the jalapenos w hen I wasn’t suppose too. Oops?
Portion out two patties (remember this is originally from only 5 ounces of turkey meat so if you are using 20 ounces then you should be portioning out 8 patties total). In the middle of each patty make an indentation and stuff the cheese/jalapeno mixture in there. Then grill your turkey burgers!
This was me actually following the instructions 🙂
Maybe you are reading this recipe and it sounds good you definitely want to make it, BUT you don’t have a grill – yah, neither do I! So what did I do? Well, just like my mom use to do when she made us meat patties in the oven. Turned the oven on to 350 degrees and stuck the patties in there. Sorry, I am not sure how long I left them in there, but I do know I checked on them at least 5 times. 🙂 But the key to a good oven meat patty is for the last 3-5 minutes turn the broiler on, move your oven rack up to the very top and let those patties cook up there.
A fabulous meal and they reheat well too should you make the whole package of turkey meat for meals later in the week! Also, I might add if you buy a whole thing of parsley to chop up then maybe also plan on making the Mini Ham & Cheese Quinoa Cups since it calls for parsley as well! 🙂
What’s your favorite way to make turkey burgers? Do you have a special ingredient that you always use?
The Hottest Half
August 15, 2012 by · 10 Comments
Well, we survived The Hottest Half, but it was not pretty. That idea of “you race like you trained” definitely comes to mind here. As you might have read, we have been in a lull for a while. Our last half was in April and we have been fairly inconsistent since then and very inconsistent the past month or so. With that said, this race was in fact our slowest EVER. On top of that we both did pre-race things we normally don’t do like enjoy an adult beverage or two, and oh you know, hang out on the lake all day water tubing. Water tubing also caused a very stiff, cramped like right calf for Teal. That was fun for 13 miles. Neither make for a rested body, and it definitely does not aid in a body that is already NOT in half marathon shape. Then we really started to wonder if we are supposed to run because Beth’s car keys were left in her sister’s car in Austin on Saturday, and our race bibs were locked in her car in Plano. We had to get replacements bibs, which has never happened before. Whoops! Luckily with such as small race it was super easy. Also for some odd reason we both ran this entire race sans music. Beth’s headphones were in the locked car and Teal just forgot to get them out of the car. Notice our trend of excuses? Ugh! Must fix!
Our replacement bibs
Our original bibs and shirts
We honestly can’t really blame it on the heat, it honestly was hot but not that hot. We had discussed during the week somewhat of a strategy to get the race over with. We had to make it to the finish line. Run-walk came to mind… ugh…but with Teal’s cramped calf and how our running had been we had to play it by ear out on the course. We both knew 13.1 straight was not going to happen. We started out the race and we are pretty sure neither wanted to say it was time for a break first. We made it to the 4 mile mark, ha, impressive right? Then ran what felt like 2-2.5 at a time, until we were down to resting every water station. (Wow- typing this is not fun!) As we got towards the end we really just wanted to get home without stopping and to pass up a women that was clearly twice our age. We both ended up beating her, thank god, but did not finish together.
The race was not all bad, we had a few highlights. We got to see our friend Jesus from our running group (North Texas Runners), he was well ahead of us and he passed us coming back from the turnaround. Our friend Lesley was at the turn around waiting for her Racing It Off ladies so we got to say hi to her, and again towards the end of the race! Always love to have smiley, happy runners around when you are ready to get the heck off of a course.
Teal about to finish the last .1 of the race
Beth about to finish the last .1 of the race
(Thanks to Jesus for the pictures of us running!!)
A couple things worth noting from the race. We did in fact run the entire hill that put us at the 5 mile mark on the course! A hill we come in contact with a lot since the Hottest Half had us running around White Rock Lake and so many Dallas races like to include at least a portion of the lake in them. On the way back to that hill where we’d be running the decline Beth noticed a girl squatting off to the side close to the lake. I wonder if she’s ok? Beth was so close to checking on her, did a double take, ooohhhhh, she just has her shorts pulled down going the bathroom. HA! Sometimes when you want to help someone on the course be sure to look twice before it becomes an awkward situation!
So there you have it. Our Hottest Half race…Gross. We have Disneyland Half in a few weeks and we plan on having very different results. We are totally getting back into the swing of things and have a long list of races ahead of us. The inconsistency of our running must get better or these crappy race recap blogs are going to become very difficult to write and we are sure you won’t want to read them. At least we are in this together right?
Tasty Tuesday: Mini Ham & Cheese Quinoa Cups
August 14, 2012 by · 4 Comments
Thank you pinterest for this recipe find which also lead to a new blog — Iowa Girl Eats! Not sure how we haven’t stumbled upon Kristin’s blog or her on twitter yet, but glad we finally did! Not only is she giving her readers tasty recipes to try but she’s also a runner – like us!
Recently I was on the search for some sort of mini quiche, mini frittata, or something of that nature for a baby shower and I stumbled upon the mini ham & cheese quinoa cups. I gave them a test run the week of the shower, thought they were fabulous and was ready to count them as a part of my contribution to the shower food!
This recipe makes 28 mini cups and calls for –
Ingredients:
2 cups cooked quinoa (about 3/4 cup uncooked)
2 eggs
2 egg whites
1 cup zucchini, shredded
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup diced ham
1/4 cup parsley, chopped
2 Tablespoons parmesan cheese
2 green onions, sliced
salt & pepper to taste
To get started preheat that oven to 350 degrees and get going on cooking and chopping up the ingredients! Follow the instructions on the box of your quinoa to cook it correctly.
My favorite vegetable chopping/slicing contraption!!
Combine ALL of the ingredients into a large mixing bowl and mix it all up!
Grab your mini muffin pans and spray them with a non-stick spray and don’t just lightly spray make sure you really cover the pans with the non-stick spray. Begin spooning out the mixture into each muffin pan.
I used normal size muffin pans on my first go ’round
The recipe calls for cooking them about 15-20 minutes, but I either have always had the slowest cooking oven in the world or….well, I don’t know what. I definitely left them in the oven for more like 25-30 minutes, so just make sure to watch the sides and when they start to turn a golden brown you are safe to take them out of the oven. Give them about 5 minutes to cool then remove the quinoa cups from the muffin pan.
There you go! Cute little delicious Ham & Cheese Quinoa Cups. Next I’ll have to get brave and experiment with different ingredients!
And here is how the nutrition stacks up on the quinoa cups –
Should also add that these mini cups reheat well. If you were to make them for say a baby shower or something similar like I did the mix does well if you make it the night before, refrigerate and cook them the next day. Or you could simply make about half the recipe, save the rest of the mix and make it the next day.
Are you a big quinoa fan? What’s your favorite recipe involving quinoa?
Someone Hold Us We’re Running a Half This Weekend
August 10, 2012 by · 9 Comments
That’s right if you’ll remember from our little countdown a week ago we are in fact running the Hottest Half on Sunday!
This week we’ve discussed the race and how we will survive it plan to cross that finish line together. Once again being us, we were totally in sync with each other. Are you sickened by our ability to be like that? Running partner match made in heaven! On a side note, can we tell you how hard it is to NOT type NSYNC whenever we talk about how in sync we are?
Anyway, we also recently let you in on how our running has been not so excellent lately so we are enacting a run/walk strategy into this weekend’s half marathon. We both are not big fans of the run/walking because our racing legs just don’t do so well with that method. (disclaimer: if you do that method we ain’t judgin’, you might cross a finish line faster than us doing it, but it’s just not OUR preferred method – that’s it! Promise)
We have no time goals for this race although in the back of our minds we’d both like it to be faster than our ZOOMA half times. Thankfully the high on Sunday is only 99, no triple digits! Haha
Maybe you sense the dread in our posts about running such a hot half marathon and wonder why are you running it? It’s the bling! You see we signed up for the Four Seasons challenge and this is race 2 out of 4. We crossed off spring half marathon with Big D Half and hopefully this weekend we’ll be crossing off summer half!
Book Report: This Is Why You’re Fat
August 6, 2012 by · 15 Comments
…many “experts” have made dieting so complicated and unrealistic that people tend to give up. In fact, diets have a 98 percent failure rate!
When I picked up a copy of Jackie Warner’s This Is Why You’re Fat I couldn’t wait to get started reading it, and once I did start reading it I didn’t want to put it down!
And I completely appreciate the excerpt above from this book. There are far too many books out there that make trying to eat right such a complicated process. Right now, there are plenty of books out there and people out there saying most of what Jackie is saying, however, she says it in a no nonsense sort of way. It’s easy to understand and a light bulb really did go off as I read it!
Essentially eat clean. Eat natural. Limit or pretty much rid your diet of processed food. Do not fear – you can bring some of it back on your designated cheat meals!
Did any of you watch Jackie Warner’s show on Bravo called Work Out? I did and I totally loved her attitude and what she was about. I remember constantly her saying SUGAR IS BAD. SUGAR IS EVIL! GET RID OF SUGAR IN YOUR DIET! Well, she’s saying that again in her book.
I can honestly say her saying that on Work Out has been hanging out in my head, but reading her book shed a whole new light on it for me. I use to looooove to drink Starbucks VIA Caramel coffee then a light bulb turned on and I actually looked at the back of the box. Oh hey, Beth, this isn’t normal coffee – whatever they did to it adds 13 grams of sugar. THIRTEEN!! Yep, I am done with that stuff. Still have some in the pantry at home and it is the last thing that I want. I look at it right now and just shake my head! It’s essentially black coffee with caramel flavoring and 13-freakin-grams of sugar!
Really, I don’t want to give too much away. Maybe I already did?! But this book so turned on a light for me I wish I could buy it and give it away to other people! (maybe that’s a sign we should do a giveaway??) I’d loan you my copy but I highlighted and wrote all over it plus I feel it’s something where I should look back on frequently. Refresh my mind! Not only that, but Jackie completely sets you up for success! She gives you the good & bad of food in our bodies, explains her way of eating, gives you a plan, gives you workouts and gives you recipes!
Like I said before this book just hit home with me even though I think there are some other similar books saying the same things so it just might be my preferred method of hearing what I needed to hear!
Have you read This Is Why You’re Fat? Has another healthy eat & living book really hit home with you like this one did for me?
Countdown Friday
August 3, 2012 by · 6 Comments
Pretty sure we’ve said this before, but who doesn’t love a good countdown?! Here’s a glimpse at some of the current countdowns going through our heads –
9 days until half marathon no. 12, The Hottest Half
24 days until Teal’s new students are back in school
(source)
28 days until we head back out to California for Disneyland Half (half marathon no. 13) and hopefully getting our Coast to Coast medals as well!!
Disneyland Half 2011
59 days until we begin training for the Louisiana Marathon (mary no. 2)
85 days until Beth & Brent tie the knot!
Ahhh, It’s August! July Report Card & Goals for This Month!
August 2, 2012 by · 6 Comments
We’ll skip the whole OMG-let’s freak out-it’s August thing. Kinda anyway and dive right on in! Here’s how we measured up with our goals for the month of July –
Teal:
1. Read Power of Habit, work on the stupid ”I am just going to stand here and eat random crap while I look for something to eat” problem.
C- : I am only about half way through this book but I think I get the point, he repeats a lot and gives very long winded examples. I have been so busy that my habit in and of itself has had a hard time existing because I have not been in the kitchen!
2. Get my office ready at my new job. My contract starts July 30th and I would like to be more than set before I start working. I can’t work if stuff is not organized and finished so this is a must. Right now it looks like a war zone and crap is all over the place.
A: Off ice is ready and as of Monday I am officially back to work. So so so glad I got that done before we started because there would have been no time.
3. Run an avg of 25 miles a week. This is close to the plan, not every week, but I am trying to still balance what my body decides it will do and my wanting to get faster and have more endurance.
F: I ran 48 miles total last month, so not even 2 weeks worth of what I wanted to do. This would totally make sense if you saw our running funk post.
Beth
1. Read This Is Why You’re Fat by Jackie Warner.
A+: LOVED IT!! Look for a post all about this book soon!
2. Keep up with My Fitness Pal and keep up with Daily Mile.
C+: I definitely could have done WAY better than I did, BUT it is a far better improvement from where I was all of June!
3. I have my own monthly challenge I started of doing dips and planks regularly, and have been keeping a record of it on a calendar I printed out. Here’s to getting in 5 days of those at least each week! I’ll show you my calendar at the end of the month!
F: Do I have to show you my calendar? 🙁 I started out fine and then it dwindle…..blah! The calendar might as well be empty, but I am proud of my #powerplankchallenge I completed on Tuesday thanks to Mindy & Holly for hosting it! Planked once every hour for 8 hours!
As far as my trying to run hills weekly – yah, I think I did once last month. Fail! And in addition to reading This Is Why You’re Fat I also read Names My Sisters Call Me by Megan Crane which was a fun read since I’m wedding planning and the main character as a small back story is planning her’s as well.
***
And here is what we plan to accomplish in the month of August –
Teal:
My goals for August are basic because I know that this may be the busiest month I have had in a long long time, if ever. I just want to make it through work and stay running! So here you go!
1. Get through the first month of my new job without having any major breakdowns. I have found out over the last 3 days that this is going to be crazy- in a good way crazy but there is so much to learn and a lot at stake for mistakes.
2. Keep running at least 3 days outside. I don’t like the treadmill but it is about 100 even at 9 o’clock at night and the mornings range in the upper 80’s with the sun still down.
Beth:
My goals are also pretty basic too as the month of August scares me! No free weekends whatsoever and SO MUCH to accomplish!
1. Yoga once a week. I’ve been trying to do this and haven’t but I think for my stress levels this month I REALLY need to add this one into my routine!
2. Mail ALL wedding invitations!
3. I’m going to be like Teal and say keep up with my running and get in 4 days of running each week!
Joint Goal:
Our marathon training for the Louisiana Marathon will be here in no time and in preparation for training and making a plan we both are going to take the time this month to read Run Less Run Faster. Just want to explore options and get a plan that fits both of us!
Here’s to getting it all accomplished this month!
What are your goals for the month of August?
