I ran in the marathon today! It. was. pouring. I was pretty much drenched before I started running, cause I was in the relay and had to wait outside for my teammate to come through. But you know what? It was so much fun!
Quick recap! It was raining too heavily to risk iPhone or camera, so I don’t have pictures. Sooo sad about that. Oh well. I got dropped off early this morning at the intersection where my leg of the relay picked up, and ducked inside the nearby Safeway – turns out lots of people did that, so we chatted and bonded, and it was actually a fun way to bide the time. I threw on a poncho and headed out in the storm in time to watch the lead runners pass the halfway point, which was awesome. After I saw our Team Veg leader pass (at like 1 hour 22 minutes. how cool is that?!), back to the safety of Safeway.
My leg of the relay was awesome. I had a 7-mile stretch of a street I know incredibly well. I loved running down the middle of that blocked off street. Despite the rain and wind, it wasn’t too cold. Though it was cold enough to kind of off-set the throbbing in stupid Frankenstein Finger! I really thought there was no chance of me running the whole thing, cause my finger has throbbed pretty badly the last few times I’ve exercised – but it didn’t, and I ran my whole stretch! Hoorah! Certainly not my best run, but after a month of severe lethargy, I couldn’t be happier. This is the perfect way to start getting back in shape after being so inactive!
Post-race was less than pleasant. Sweating and being poured on makes for a pretty chilly lady after the race. By the way, the rain subsided and the sun came out about three minutes before I finished my leg. Nice timing, weather. All was better when I met up with Team Veg at The Plum Vegan Cafe for an all-you-can-eat brunch! Yay! When I got home, I went straight to turn on hot bathwater, put on my tea kettle, and sat in a bath hotter than most hot tubs. Warmth.
*Update*: My wonderful friend and Team Veg teammateMariaran the full marathon (her first!), and posted a great recap on her blog Lime Tree Life. So proud of her! Check it out!
I’m sure my marathon recap is thrilling for you all. But maybe you’d prefer to hear about what I did next. I made a batch of an amazing recipe that I created yesterday. But sadly I didn’t photograph it yesterday because I scarfed it down like a contestant on Survivor who hasn’t eaten anything but rice for a month and wins a challenge for a giant catered all-you-can-eat feast. (Alright, I haven’t watched Survivor in years, but I assume they still do that . . . right?)
I figured post-brunch feast was a good time to photograph this yummy treat because I didn’t physically have room to devour it before I got my pictures. Success.
You know those Sweet Maui Onion potato chips? They are heavenly. Well, I made a wonderful little spice mixture that tastes like that coating. It is simple and fantastic and I plan to put it on LOTS of things (I’m sure it will be awesome on roasted potatoes and sprinkled on popcorn!) But today (and yesterday) I put it on kale chips.
They are the best kale chips I’ve ever had. The best. They are crunchier than most kale chips – I’m thinking because there’s sugar in my recipe that must caramelize – and of course they have that amazing sweet onion flavor that is rather addicting. If any kale chip lovers out there need to convert a kale chip hater, I’m thinking this is the recipe.
Okay, here’s the recipe:
serves 2
1 T dried minced onion
2 t sugar
1/4 t garlic powder
1/4 t celery salt
4 heaping cups kale
2 T olive oil
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine onion, sugar, garlic, and celery salt in a spice grinder or food processor and grind – this is mostly to make the sugar and onion finer (and no, I don’t think onion powder will work. I tried that and honestly think that the minced onion ground up tastes different – and much better – than onion powder.)
Put kale on a baking sheet and coat in oil. Use your hands to cover each leaf pretty evenly. Then pour the onion mixture on top and toss to evenly coat. Bake about 12-15 minutes, until the outer leaves are starting to brown.
I hope you find this as awesome as I do!
Nutrition facts per serving: Calories: 206; Calories from Fat: 135; Total Fat: 14.9g; Saturated Fat: 2.1g; Sodium: 59mg; Total Carbohydrates: 18.4g; Dietary Fiber: 2.8g; Sugars: 4.5g; Protein: 4.5g
**I submitted this yummy treat to Healthy Vegan Fridays!**
Leave a Reply