Can I just title every Sunday “Sundays are for baking Part IV”?
After Diana’s brunch, Brad and I swung by the mall to buy one of those wallets you can hide under your clothes to evade the Italian pick-pocketers.
On our way home, I felt really bleh. I almost felt hungover…tired, slight headache, generally blah feeling. Maybe my 10 mile run took more out of me than I thought. I’m not sore at all (which is freaking amazing!), but I just felt off. I know that I was not dehydrated. I drunk so much in the past two days. I made at least five trips to the ladies’ room during my bridesmaid luncheon because I had drank so much water. Brad suggested that I might be over-hydrated, but I didn’t think so.
When we returned home, Brad continued working on my blog. We’re slowly getting everything sorted out. Can I just say that he’s so incredibly sweet to do all this for me? I can’t wait to release the new look. I’m crossing my fingers it’s before the wedding, but it might end up being later this month when we return from the honeymoon.
When my soon-to-be mother-in-law visited this weekend, she brought us a bunch of beautiful little pears.
You know I can’t stand to see anything go to waste, and with us going to Italy on Sunday, I had to do something with these pears. I thought about freezing them and decided against it.
Instead, I decided to have a pear baking extravaganza. It was either this or a nap. Baking trumps napping any day for me.
Before baking, I snacked on a La Croix and a mini chocolate coconut date truffle.
See how tiny in my child-size hand?
Not the best photo.
Pear Crisp
3 cups chopped pears
2 Tbsp. cinnamon
1/2 Tbsp. nutmeg
3/4 cup oats
2 Tbsp. cold real butter
Place pears in casserole dish and mix well with spices and Stevia. Top with oats and cut cold butter into small slivers to top oats. Bake on 350 degrees Fahrenheit for an hour.
And next…
Pear bread
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup spelt flour
1/4 cup ground flax seed
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. cinnamon
2 1/2 cups shredded pears
10 dates, pitted and pureed in food process
1 egg + 1/2 cup egg whites (4 egg whites)
2 tsp. vanilla extract
Mix all dry ingredients well. Mix wet ingredients and all fruit. Add wet ingredients to dry and stir well (I used my kitchen aid stand mixture because the dough was so thick). Grease a bread pan with cooking spray and pour bread mixture into pan. Bake on 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 35 minutes or until you can pierce the center with a knife and it comes out clean.
Baking made everything better for me this afternoon. It even made me feel good enough to do an easy 30 minutes on the elliptical + 2 circuits of arm and shoulder exercises.
In other news, I’ve caved and bought the Nike Tempo Shorts. I bought these in pink and yellow. As much as I love Target and think their workout clothes are super inexpensive, none of their shorts fit the same consistently, even the same brands. The Finish Line is running a great deal on these shorts and so is Nike.com. I couldn’t resist.
Do you have any favorite workout clothing brands? Do new workout clothes encourage you to workout? It does for me! 🙂
I’m going to be buying new running shoes soon and am thinking about switching from my trusty Aasics so I would love to hear what shoes other runners swear by as well.