Comfort Food

My mom is a New Orleans native, so I’m not stranger to shrimp and grits.  When I came across a recipe that combined the two I KNEW I had to try it.

Confetti Shrimp + Grits, compliments of Kath

I’d like to think I’m a shrimp-peeling pro, but in the presence of my mom, that belief is continuously rebuked.  I got them done quickly enough and popped them into a pan of olive oil.  At one point they started making this screaming noise, which really creeped me out…

A few veggies later and I was chowing down on a slightly sweet, slightly cheesey bowl of comfort food.

Kath promised my grits would taste like “sweet cornbread” and she was so right!

This meal really got me excited to eat fresh New Orleans shrimp in a couple of months!

By the way, any one know the difference between grits and polenta?  I have a feeling they’re the same thing…  The best part about this dinner?  It tasted like Southern comfort food, BUT I didn’t feel weighed down afterward AT ALL

After dinner, I made breakfast (HUH?!)  For tomorrow (today) this is.  Wednesday’s traditional VOO’s but with a twist.  I tried using Greek yogurt last week and was left with a bland bowl of mush.  This week I wanted to try a flavored yogurt — Brown Cow’s Cream Top Maple with Brown Sugar on the Bottom

Trust me, this picture is better looking than the actual VOO’s were, although they tasted awesome!  I picked this yogurt + 3 others up at the grocery this weekend because Joey had never tasted a cream top, gasp!  I was telling a story about how my family used to buy whole milk and we would fight over who got to eat the cream off the top, to which Joey responded “Like that waxy part?”  NO!!! I used half of this yogurt in the oats and gave the rest to Joey.  He declared that it was “bomb” 🙂

I then proceeded to beg Joey to let me come on his run with him — he was doing a 3-miler — but he told me no because I’d already ran 4 miles.  Uh oh someone has the running bug BAD!

I am now sipping my first ever Kombucha tea — GT’s Trilogy

It’s nothing like what I expected!  It was super fizzy and has a gingery carbonated taste.  Hmmm I’m not sure how I feel about it but we’ll see how it makes me feel!

Half Marathon Decision:

A day late, but better late than never, right?

To be honest, I don’t even know what sparked this desire.  It may have something to do with how fabulous morning runs have been making me feel and the fact that my awful inner-arch blister is FINALLY healed enough to run comfortably but I realized I want to push myself towards a new running goal.  Joey has really inspired me by sticking to his training plan so well and when I looked at the training guide for a novice wanting to run a half marathon I was surprised by how simple and do-able it looked!  Sure, 10 miles seems like a lot right now (that’s the maximum mileage I’ll reach during training), but I can work my way up to that.  I’ve realized that running is much more a mental challenge for me.  My body feels awesome and I know I’m physically capable of running 13.1 miles, now I need to convince my brain of the same.

I’ll be following Hal Higdon’s training guide, which is a 12-week program but I’m thinking of re-working it considering I’ll be on vacation a couple times in the end of July/beginning of August

Denver Rock and Roll Half Marathon, here I come!