Cookin' [Part 2]

Food I Just Put Together

Salmon Sandwich

It was exceptional!  It was so easy and took very little effort.  For how simple it was I was shocked at how tasty it turned out. 

No, this is not a salmon burger, it is a salmon sandwich made with a salmon burger patty...
work with me here. 

Try to put aside the the un-photogenic plate 

we have and check out my lunch!

All I did was get a salmon burger patty we get from Costco, cooked it then mashed it up. 

Stuck that on whole wheat toast and added garlic and capers to the other side.
I used Costco's Jalapeno Yogurt Dip as the spread on one side. 

You can't forget the peas.

Lunch For Work

I have been trying really hard to eat healthy and bring healthy meals to work 

so I don't have to buy it. Here are some examples...

HUGE orange

Sandwich: Whole Wheat bread with a small chicken breast, mustard and lettuce.

Red grapes

Raw carrots
Quinoa and Brown Rice


The quinoa and brown rice mixture I have been using a ton lately is from Costco!
What would I do without that place?

Veggie Ball Pita
The other day I put together a very simple and interesting meal for lunch.
Costco's veggie balls, quinoa & brown rice, onions, and hummus all on a whole wheat pita.


Final Verdict: It ended up tasting really good. But I felt like it needed something.  So next time I will experiment with what I can add to make it better.  I was thinking a sauce of some sort...?

It looks gross, I know.  But I put 7 veggie balls on the pita after cooking them and put squished them onto the pits covered in hummus.


What kind of hummus you ask?

My camera phone would not focus or cooperate with me for this picture.

Fruit-Full Salad

It is absolutely delicious.  Summer always brings out my taste for fruit and salads so I combined the two in an awesome meal.

Spinach, Apples, Red Grapes, Carrots and Onions. 

Food is so good. What would we do without it?...besides starve. 

I remember back in my elementary school days people thought that by 2012 we would have invented some sort of pill to take to replace food completely.   That hasn't happened yet—but why on earth would we want that to happen?  Food tastes too good and cooking adds so much excitement and passion to our lives.  It'll never happen. 

Cooking [and other fun stuff]

Basically this is, and the next post, going to be a food montage.  Score!
Over the past six months I have developed a liking for cooking!  I used to hate it.  It took too long, it wasn't interesting, it sucked.  Yet I always thought baking was fun—probably only because it results in things like cookies, cakes, cupcakes, banana bread, etc.
But I have cooked a lot over these months and it has been pretty fun.

Food by Mark and Shannah

Breakfast of Champions 

It was our "break" breakfast, which means we got to eat anything we wanted for this breakfast meal. Except we had it for dinner....  It was delicious!

Divine thick pancakes are a must

Peanut butter is good on just about everything

Mountain Man portion of our meal.

Spicy Sausage, Onions, Green Peppers, Eggs and Hash Browns

Needless to say we ate a lot.  A lot...

Oh my gosh, yes, it was indeed extremely tasty!

Philly

Our second attempt. The first time we made it the meat was better, but this was still a success.

Obviously the taste was great seeing as I ate a good portion of it before the picture.

Green Peppers, Onions, London Broil Beef and Cheese

The picture does not do it justice.  I personally think Mark and I make some dang good Phillies. 

Reeses Milkshakes

We ended up adding too much milk to these.  They were good, but when we got about halfway done drinking it, it became more like milk. So we'll adjust that next time. 

We really really want to make a homemade Pesto one of these days.  One problem: the freaking basil leaves[keep in mind that is but ONE of the ingredients] are more expensive than just buying a jar of pesto.  Laaammee.  So one day when we are rich and famous we'll make a Pesto and I'll be sure to share our adventure with you. 

"Hike" to the U at the University of Utah
Mark and I decided to hike to the U on the mountain and bring lunch the other day.
I've heard it referred to as a hike.  Wrong.  It was a drive followed then an evening stroll.
Though was still very pretty how it overlooked a good chunk of the valley.

It turned out to be pretty windy and cloudy that day.  That didn't spoil our fun, it just made
it difficult for me to eat my Subway sandwich without
getting a mouthful of hair too from the wind blowing it everywhere.

My home is beautiful!

Sushi!

Sushi is so good.
I know what you're thinking.  "I am never eating raw fish! That's disgusting."   Hey, give it a chance!  That is exactly what I thought throughout the years of growing up and here I am, loving sushi.
Plus, not all of it is raw.  Some of it is cooked!

A few weekends ago me, Dad, Aunt Jennifer, Grandma and Grandpa went to Sakana Sushi Bar.  
It is fairly small but very clean! (That right there is good enough for me)
The waiters check up on you just enough to where they aren't overbearing or absent, and every roll I have tried so far (7 of 'em) has been so good!

I will say that I have not been to tons of sushi joints, but from the ones that I have been to, this one is up there on the list.

Check out our cool dinner plate set up

Soy sauce bowl and chopsticks are necessities!

2/4 rolls we ordered.

Back: Sunset Roll

Front: Mama Mia

The one way in the back is the Jordan Roll

Playboy Roll

Don't you love the flower?!

Sunset Roll: It was so good!  It tasted....summer-y.  If that makes any sense.

Mama Mia: Had flying fish eggs on it and the sauce was great.

Jordan Roll: This my favorite.  This had fried pieces in it and was oh-so delicious.

Playboy Roll: I have nothing against this roll at all, but it was my least favorite.  It was still delicious, but I enjoyed the others just a bit more. By the way, that is eel on top. 

This was our Tempura Vegetables.  

Complete with squash, carrots and some others I don't remember.  

But it was awesome

Sushi is GOOD!  If you haven't tried it, just go for it!  Start out simple.  Nobody said you had to eat a squid tentacle or anything.  Why not begin with a simple California Roll?  

It is so worth it!  I was terrified to eat sushi the first time my good friend took me in Vegas, but she made me do it...  and I am so glad she did!

To Run, Or Not To Run

That is the question.

As you may or may not know, I have thoroughly been enjoying running a lot more than I used to.  About two years ago and continuing back, I had loathed running.  It was torture.

Especially treadmills. 

Oh. My. Gosh —Treadmills were the enemy.

I had always loved playing sports and being active, which running, of course, goes hand in hand with.  Yet I had never liked going out on a run just for kicks. 

As time went on I started to tolerate running.  Not enjoy, but just be able to go on a run without wanting to throw myself off of the second floor track. 

Tolerance became Interest

Interest made me want Improvement

Improvement built Endurance

Endurance sparked Enjoyment

Enjoyment leads to A Running High

I started to really like running this past year and it only grows on me as time passes.  

In fact, this past month at the gym I have just been running the whole time instead of doing cardio and lifting like my previous gym schedule.  

I started out running on the Treadmill *dun dun duuuuunnnn* a lot.  Which, I never in my wildest dreams thought I would grow fond of it, but I surely have. I even have two specific treadmills that I use (I need two regular ones at my gym just in one of them is occupied) and they have been good to me. 

For awhile I did the elliptical for 30 minutes/3 miles.  Followed by running on the treadmill for 60 minutes/6.2+ miles.   Yep, good stuff!  It was really hard at first. I had never ran for an hour before. After doing that for a week I changed it to just the treadmill for an hour for the following few weeks.  

I never thought I could run for an hour!  No way.  But I am so glad I can:D

But I think I am going to change my workout regimen to running for an hour or so and then go lift too. Should be a good time!

If you are reading this and you haven't exercised in more than a few weeks....get goin'. It's good for you.

I would just like to point out to those of you who think, "Oh man, there is no way I could do that!" or "Running is for athletes." or my personal favorite, "I wish I could do that." Well guess what pessimists, the majority of you are incorrect.  

I think we take our bodies for granted and have low expectations for ourselves.  I personally think our bodies have the potential to do amazing things and it is our minds which hold us back.  I wish I could do something is the thought that you can't complete that task. Maybe you've tried once or twice, but if you keep working at it, you'll improve as time goes by. That's the way it is. 

My shoes

I got them for my birthday this year from Dad and Ryan

But the main point of this blog post is to say that I think I may want 

to do a half marathon this year.  (I have ran 5ks before and have been running 6 miles on the treadmill four-five days a week for the past month or so)

Thoughts...?

Any tips on training?

Have you ever done a Half?

Any pointers?

Any good races to sign up for?

Camera: out of service

By camera, I mean the camera on my phone.

My phone is ridiculous and it is brand new! (Brand new, as in: this is my 2nd Droid X because the first one was being strange too, so they gave me a new one)  Why?

1.   I couldn't hang up phone calls after having it for a month or so. I had to physically take the battery out of the phone for the call to end. (Which I am sure made for a few long, annoying and unintentional voicemails people received from me)

But after going through my phone and changing a few settings, I made that issue a lot better. I still can't touch the 'end' button on the screen, but I just press another button on the top of the phone and it will hang up.

2.   The dang camera on my phone, which, obviously, comes with the phone...as in...it is built inside of it, will not work. Sometimes the camera application won't open and say "Camera is not available at this time."  But when it does open and I am able to snap a photo, it doesn't save it. 

Thanks Verizon.

Apparently if I want a phone that will never have any issues, I guess I need to get the iPhone one day.

The point of all that was to share that I probably won't have too many pictures to share with you any time soon.  Lame.  I suppose I could be logical and bring an actual camera along, but I always forget to do that and I have a feeling that won't change. 

In the mean time, here are two dishes that I have been eating lately. 

 Hawaiian Haystacks

Mark and I have made this twice and it has turned out great!

White Rice (or Brown Rice), Chicken, a sauce of some sort (teriyaki, spicy, etc.), Pineapple Chunks and Scallions.

Veggie Balls with Rice

I have made this with either Brown Rice, Brown Rice & Quinoa, or Cous Cous. 

Each are equally as good.

As you can see, I added Costco's Veggie Balls and Peas.

Love it!

I would also like to mention that Mark and I are doing this Healthy Eating thing where for 6 Months, we are eating completely healthy and can only consume "junk food" and "sweets" once a month.  That is our Break Day.  We started this on April 16th, and so far so good!   

But needless to say, we are excited for May's Break Day :]

I'll be sure to keep you up to date on that one.