07 | July | 2010 | The Runner's Plate

For those of you who live in Anchorage, you know this isn’t uncommon to see moose in the city occasionally. However, I usually don’t see many moose during the summer because they flee to the mountains. But this morning on my run, I saw two more moose–a mother and its baby!! (Sorry I don’t have a picture. I don’t carry my camera with me on my runs.)

I ran 6 miles today in 51 minutes this morning. I wasn’t feeling the best; my stomach felt kind of funny. I did have a bowl of Cherrios with milk and 1/2 of a multigrain bagel with peanut butter on to eat 3 hours before running. These are things I’ve had before and usually 3 hours is enough time to digest eveything, so I am not sure what the deal was.

After my run I knew I needed something to eat though, but I didn’t want anything heavy, so I made a large strawberry banana smoothie. It was nice and cool and refreshing.

Strawberry Banana Smoothie

- milk

- vanilla flavored soy protein powder

- plain yogurt

- banana

- frozen strawberries

I also snacked on some Annie’s Honey Bunny Grahams along with my smoothie. These are way better than graham crackers!

I have a weird quirk that my mouth desires ”wet” and “dry” foods together. It is difficult for me to eat a “wet” food without having something “dry” alongside it. soup + bread/crackers. salad + bread. cheese + crackers. Maybe it is my love of carbs?!?!

My stomach was still bothering me after a while, so I had some Yogi Lemon Ginger tea. This is my favorite tea right now–even if my stomach isn’t bothering me. I love the combination of lemon and ginger.

Here’s a new concauction for you!!

My husband eats very healthy, but like most people, he likes to indulge every once and a while. Check out his creation.

That would be bacon pancakes!! Yes, that’s right, bacon surrounded by super yummy Greek Yogurt Pancakes.

I actually didn’t try one, but Craig said they were “to die for.” I can only imagine after drizzling them with some pure maple syrup–a rich, melt-in-your-mouth taste.

Off to the gym to pump some iron!!

Last night, Craig and I spent some time outside enjoying the sun!!

We hopped on our bikes and rode the Campbell Creek trail.

You would not believe all the wildlife we saw!!

First, a mother moose with, not one. . . but two babies. Yes, there are two there, see the four legs in the back? The mother also has a tagging collar on.

And then we saw a beaver!!

And a bald eagle!

And some ducks. Not quite as exciting, but the babies are still cute.

It was crazy how many different animals we saw!! My one-with-nature husband was estatic!!

By now I was pretty hungry, so we picked this spot to enjoy our picnic.

Our grub.

My silly date.

We stuffed the bread with cucumbers, tomatoes, hummus, feta cheese, and kalamata olives. (On a side note, this was what we had to eat on our first date. )

For our sandwiches, instead of buying pita bread. I made some homemade naan.

Naan

Makes 4 oval breads.

Ingredients:

* 2 cups bread flour

* 1/2 teaspoon salt

* 1 1/8 teaspoons active dry yeast

* 3/4 cup plain yogurt or buttermilk, at room temperature (I’ve only tried yogurt.)

* 2 tablespoons butter, melted

* 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon water, as needed

Directions:

Combine the flour, salt, and yeast in a mixing bowl. Then add the remaining ingredients and knead by hand or with a mixer for about 10 minutes–until the dough is smooth and elastic.

Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl and turn once to coat with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise at for 1.5 hours.

Place a pizza/baking stone in the oven on the lowest level. Preheat over for 45 minutes at 475 degrees.

Meanwhile, punch down dough and divide into 4 pieces. Roll into balls, cover, and let rest for 10 minutes. Roll our each ball of dough on a floured surace to an oval 8-10 inches long and 1/4 inch thick. Brush tops with melted butter.