Almond Banana Muffins!

Ok, if the bacon wrapped sweet potatoes were the prom queen of my ladies night, the almond banana muffins were definitely first runner-up, ready to take the crown at a moments notice!

What you'll need:

1 cup almond butter

1 cup almond flour

4 medium ripe bananas, mashed

2 eggs

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon (maybe even a little more if you like cinnamon)

1 tablespoon of vanilla

1/2 cup plus more for topping muffins Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips (Dairy-Free, Soy Free, Gluten-Free) – I find mine at Whole Foods

Here's how you make them:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease pan or use liners (I used liners - much easier!)

In a mixing bowl, combine all ingredients except chocolate chips and mix everything is incorporated. *Side note - I used my Kitchen Aid stand mixer. You can definitely make these with a hand mixer, but with the stand mixer I was able to put the bananas in whole without having to mash them, made it much easier!* Now stir chocolate chips into batter. Pour batter into prepared muffin tin filling all 12 cups evenly. Top muffins with a few additional chocolate chips. Bake for 20 – 25 minutes, or until golden and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let the muffins cool and remove from pan.

I baked mine for exactly 20 minutes and they cam out perfectly! Next time I make them I won't use the chocolate chips (not a huge chocolate fan). I know Ginesa made these last night using diced apples, raisins and nutmeg. I think I'll steal her idea and use apples in mine next time around! Also, these these freeze really well! I wrapped the left-over muffins individually and popped them in the freezer. Just sit one on the counter to thaw and they're as good as fresh-out of the oven!

Bacon Wrapped Sweet Potatoes

Hey everyone! For those of you who don't know, I've started crossfit classes at Crossfit Gambit in Soulard and along with the new workouts I've also begun a strict paleo diet.

If you're unfamiliar with what paleo means, here's a quick summary from Wikipedia: the "contemporary" Paleolithic diet consists mainly of meat, fish, vegetables, fruit, roots, and nuts, and excludes grains, legumes, dairy products, salt, refined sugar, and processed oils. Today is my 22nd day of eating at least 80% paleo, and my 15th day of eating 100% paleo with zero cheats. It's been a challenge, but I have to say, I've never felt better! I've always had tummy problems, especially when running long(ish) miles and that has been completely eliminated. My plan was to eat 100% paleo for 30 days and going back to 80% after. Now I'm thinking I'm going to stay as close to 100% as possible from now on (with an occasional cheat for booze lol).

I'm planning to share a bunch of paleo recipes that I've tried here, partly because some people have asked for them and partly so that I have a place to find them all in one spot!

Last night I had a group of ladies over - it was the first time I was putting my paleo cooking to the test for other people. I think everything went really well. I think the big hit of the night was the bacon-wrapped sweet potatoes!

Here's what you'll need:

2 medium-small sweet potatoes
1 lb uncured bacon
2 Tbsp butter
1/2 tsp ancho chili powder
1 Tbsp sea salt
4 Tbsp maple syrup — OPTIONAL

Preheat oven to 350F. Peel the sweet potatoes and cut them lengthwise into quarters. Then cut each quarter in half, and then half again. You’ll wind up with 32 bites.

Melt butter over low-heat and stir in chipotle chili powder and sea salt. Toss the potatoes in the spiced, melted butter to coat.

Cut the bacon slices in half, so you have 32 mini-slices of bacon. Wrap each sweet potato bite with a half slice of bacon, and use a toothpick to hold the bacon in place. The toothpick doesn't have to go very far into the sweet potato, just far enough to hold the bacon in place.

Place on a stainless steel baking sheet and bake for 45 minutes, turning once about halfway through. I thought about baking these on parchment paper, but I'm really glad I didn't. I think the bacon grease would have made that a disaster.

These are done when the bacon is crispy and the sweet potatoes are fork-tender. You could also drizzle these with a bit of maple syrup when finished, but I choose not to.

These were the last thing I made because I thought they may get soggy when reheated. There were a few leftover, so I'll report back on how well they do when reheated.

Well...hello there!

I've been meaning to get back to blogging for a while now, but something happened tonight that set me off.

It all started by a seemingly innocent tweet.

Everyone that knows me knows I enjoy shopping. That's certainly no secret. It's also no secret that I'm not a fan of shopping alone. I'm awful about making decisions and prefer having someone else to give me their opinions of what I try on. As a result, when I'm alone and am thinking of buying something I often turn to Twitter. Tonight was no different. I have several holiday parties to attend and wanted a new dress. Could I wear something in my closet? Probably. But in the last year I've lost a significant amount of weight which means a lot of things in my closet no longer fit me and frankly, I simply wanted something new. No crime there.

What happened next really surprised me. I got a bunch of tweets from my "internet friends" telling me things they liked and disliked about the dress. Then all of the sudden, I saw this:

I was instantly taken back. I instantly replied "whoa - so not true! I have numerous Christmas parties to attend - mostly the same people at all of them." Then I looked at her timeline and what I saw really surprised me.

I'm not really sure what I've done to bring on this sort of exchange about me. For all anyone knows I was at a discount department store trying on a clearance dress or at a store shopping with a gift card that I had been given. I never mentioned where I was. I never ever would have mentioned the price of this dress. Also, not everything that gets tweeted ends up in my closet. That's the whole point of tweeting the pic, to weed out the uglies!

There are so many other things I have to say about what happened tonight, but I'll just end with this:

Before you judge someone, take a second to learn a little bit about them and spend some time walking in their shoes. You may just be surprised by what you find out.

A Little Bit Stronger

This morning I woke up and set off to run 10-12 miles. It was a gorgeous morning and lots of other runners were on the street. I was cruising along listening to my music but my legs felt heavy and my body was tired. I called it a day after just under 9 miles. I got home and still had plenty of time for a kettlebell workout before I needed to get ready for church. I popped in my Jillian Michaels DVD and gave it all I had.

Much to my surprise, I still had tons of time to kill before getting ready. I started a pot of coffee and hopped in the shower. After my shower, I made breakfast and watched some tv before deciding it was time to get moving. Before getting up, I changed the channel to U-Verse's new Today's Country station. The first song that came on was Sara Evans's A Little Bit Stronger. I tweeted part of the lyrics:

Doesn't happen overnight, but you turn around and a month's gone by,

And you realize you haven't cried.

I'm not giving you an hour or a second or another minute longer.

I'm busy getting stronger.

I didn't think anything about tweeting it. I love the song, love the lyrics, nothing more. It wasn't until I was about half-way finished doing my hair that it hit me. Today is May 8th. To most people May 8, 2011 meant that today is Mother's Day. To me, it meant so much more.

May 8, 2008 was the day that I ended my marriage. It was the day that I decided that I'd finally had enough. It was the day that would change my life forever. I didn't know it at the time, but I was close to hitting rock bottom, which meant that I was close to picking myself up and putting my life back together again.

As I sit here three years later, I amazed at just how different my life is. My relationship with my family is stronger now than it's ever been. My friendships with those that were around three years ago are also stronger. I've formed new friendships with so many wonderful people and I am ridiculously happy to have them my life. I've become a runner - a marathoner! I've traveled to so many parts of the country that I wouldn't have seen if it wasn't for running and I'm looking forward to exploring even more cities by foot in the years to come. I feel more alive today than I ever have.

None of these things would have been possible if it weren't for the events that lead up to May 8, 2008.

Things aren't perfect, and they never will be. May 8th still triggered tears, but not as many tears as it did last year or the year before. One of these days, May 8th will just be another day. Until then I'm going to do my best to spend everyday getting a little bit stronger.

Long time no blog!

Hi Friends! It's been a while since I've sat down and blogged, but I've got so many things to update about that I thought I'd just to a quick recap to get up-to-date...so here it goes, Jenn's life in bullet points:

• If you follow me on twitter, you've probably already seen me mention this, but my Etsy store is back up and running...and it's in full swing! I've started making non-slip headbands similar to those you find at running stores, race expos, and the interwebs for $15-18. I'm charging $10 each or $25 for a set of three. All proceeds benefit my Girls on the Run SoleMates fundraising campaign. If you check it out and don't see a pattern you're looking for, shoot me a message! I'm in the process of making a bunch more.
• Chocolate pasta sucks. I bought some at Soulard Market last Friday with plans to make it as a dessert for Easter dinner. I told my mom about it and she immediately thought I was crazy and requested that I do a test run. Well...she was right it.was.awful! I boiled the noodles, chilled them, tossed them with whipped cream and strawberries and topped it with chocolate sauce. Sounds great, right?? WRONG! After tweeting that this was an epic fail Lauren told me her boyfriend has made chocolate pasta as a savory dish with butter and parm...I may try that with the rest of the noodles (if I'm not too traumatized to try them again).
• Speaking of the fabulous Lauren...I AM GOING TO CALIFORNIA to visit her in September to visit her!!!!! We were originally planning a long-ish weekend, then she mentioned that she was road-tripping to Vegas the week I was planning on leaving. This lead to me popping into my boss's office and asking if I can take 12 days off (well, 12 days total, not 12 work days) and she said YES!!! So...LA and Vegas in less than 5 months?? Time to get my ass in shape!
• If you're in St. Louis and you haven't been to Sanctuaria yet, you need to go. NOW! I'd be lying if I said I remember a lot about last Friday, but what I do remember is amazingly yummy drinks (with pretty flowers), a cool crowd, and a very hip vibe. I can't wait to go back.
• If you have a second check out the Girls Guide to the Galaxy's StL 2011 Sexiest CyberGeek contest. They posted it last night, and I've found some cool new local people to follow! I'd love to opportunity to meet all of the other nominees sometime soon.
• Our Ragnar Chicago team is finally coming together! After having a full team of 12 set late last year, the team kind of fell apart this spring. Work, school, and babies caused some girls to have to drop, but we're now back up to a team of 11 and we already have 2 out of the 3 volunteers that we need. We are still looking for one female runner and 1 volunteer in or near Madison or Chicago...if you know of someone PLEASE let me know!

Ok..I think that's enough for now. I promise I'm really going to try to be better about updating. I've got way to many races and new shoes to tell you about to not blog.

Happy Almost-Thursday!!!

Back to the basics

It's been a while since I've posted about shoes, so I decided to share a couple of pairs that arrived yesterday. If you follow me on Twitter, you've probably heard me talking about Sole Society. It's a new shoe club that just launced this year. I didn't hear about SS until last month and signed up right away. I ended up ordering two pairs of summer heels, the Anouk and Analisa.

Here's what SS has to say about the Anouks: This fashion forward yet timeless platform is a fun, sexy addition to your shoe collection. With peep-toe, cutouts and a Tstrap, it's equally sleek and fierce.

• Heel Height: 5 1/2"


• Platform Height: 1 1/4"


• Runs true to size


• Material: Microsuede

Anouk in coral

I ordered them in coral and am in love. They're so cute and comfortable that I've decided to order the blue as well!

Isn't the blue pretty, too??

Next up is Analisa:

Take your look to the next level with these gorgeous ruffle heels. The adjustable ankle strap provides a secure fit while the stiletto adds femininity and glamour.

• Heel Height: 4 3/4"


• Platform Height: 1"


• Runs true to size


• Material: Satin

L.O.V.E.

Analisa may not be the most practical shoe ever, but 4" heel, platform, ruffles AND pink meant that I had to have them. Their not as comfortable as Anouk, but they're certainly not uncomfortable and I think they'll look super cute with dark jeans and a white top.

Have you guys found any cute new shoes lately?

And the winners are... (plus tutu instructions)

Thanks to everyone for the super sweet comments about Rock n Roll Dallas - Barbie from barbie runs for fun and Jacob (aka @Wirelessjake on twitter) are the lucky winners of theHoneyMilk! I'll be putting both of you in contact with them very shortly. For everyone that didn't win and would like to try HoneyMilk, here's a coupon code I found online for you - SMP63032 - using this code will save you 33% on your entire order of Athletes HoneyMilk (up to 6 cases of each flavor per order), plus the shipping is ALWAYS on them!

Miss Alayna sporting her halloween tutu and her PunkRockRacing tee!

Also - I owe Fran overdue instructions on how to make tutus so here it goes:

You'll need:

2 spools of 6" tulle (I like to use more than one color - so get one of each)

Spool of grosgrain ribbon, preferably something about an inch thick

Scissors

I start by cutting the tulle into strips approx. 24" long (this will give you a tutu that's about 12" long). I find it easier to go ahead and cut off of the tulle at one time, but feel free to just cut it as you go. Then I tie the ribbon around the back of a chair making sure that it's tied tightly enough that it isn't going to move too much. Then all you do is fold the tulle in half and tie a slip knot around the ribbon, making sure the knot is at the bottom of the ribbon. If you don't want to use slip knots, you can simply make a double knot - easy peasy! If you're using multiple colors, just alternate the tulle as you go and continue that pattern until it's long enough. When it's the length you need simply cut the ribbon, allowing enough room to tie a bow, and you're all done!

This is how I've made all of mine - if you're wanting to use elastic instead of ribbon, here's a great tutorial from Plumtickled - just remember she's showing you how to make them for a kiddo, so you'll want to make sure you get the proper waist measurement.

I hope all of that makes sense - if anyone wants to make a tutu and doesn't understand anything I just said, shoot me an email and I'll do my best to help.

Hope y'all had an awesome Monday!