Beat the heat on your feet

This Summer heat... It just won't give up! Every time I like we're going to get a break, Mother Nature throws some more heat and humidity at us. Like this week. The temperature is supposed to be ridiculous this week. Which means being hot. And sweaty. And potentially smelly. But the WORST is when you're feet get hot, and sweaty and smelly (sorry if this is grossing anyone out, but we've all been there). The Body Shop has a great product for just such a problem. Their Peppermint Cooling Foot Spray is heavenly. With just a little spritz, your feet feel instantly more comfortable. And if you want SUPER cooling effects, store the bottle in the fridge. At $10 a bottle, it's a perfectly affordable feet treat.

(and to my running friends, this stuff is FANTASTIC after our long runs!!)

It's Grrrrrr-eat!

My cooking spree is still going strong. More and more I wonder why I would ever consider buying something that I could make myself - from scratch!

I've made this granola many many times. It's an Ina Garten recipe, so you know it's going to be good! Whose Ina Garten you ask? (and if you have to ask, we may not be able to be friends anymore, plus I've blogged about her previously, so there's really no excuse). She is the Barefoot Contessa, also known as one of my favourite chefs. She is my queen of home cooked comfort food. And not only are her recipes delicious, but they are also easy. Like this granola. You can make it in large or small batches, and adjust the nuts and fruits to your personal taste. I also like to add a dash of cinnamon to mine. Sprinkled on top of non-fat plain yogurt it is the perfect fast and healthy breakfast - much better then anything you'll find at Starbucks!

Click here for the recipe

p.s. When I met Ina at a book signing a couple years ago we talked about this granola!

We jammin'

My mom often jokes that I was born in the wrong decade. Based on my tastes in music, clothes, and decor, she says the 60's would have been a good time for me. She of course is referring to the 1960's. However lately I've been thinking the 1860's may not have been so bad either, as I have decided to take on a new hubby in the form of food preserving. (very Little House on the Prairie)

The idea started the other week when my friend Sibylle and I decided to start cooking more on the weekends and freezing the extras. We'd made gazpacho and pesto and were searching for other food ideas. I had been wanting to make my own jam for a while, so we starting looking for recipes online. This of course also brought up links to storing homemade jam. Immediately we were excited about the idea of making and jarring our own jams and preserves. A quick check on the Martha Stewart website brought up a 10 minute how to video, at which point we realized we may be in a little over our heads. There was some equipment we were going to need to purchase (thermometers, funnels and tongs - oh my!). Then there is the whole issue of needing everything to be uber sterilized. And all this before we even knew if the jam we make would be any good! So I decided to take the endeavor in baby steps. Step 1, was to just make a small batch of jam...

So last Saturday I walked over my local fruit market and picked up a HUGE container of blueberries. They were insanely cheap, about $4 for 4 pints. When I got home I immediately stuck half of them in the freezer (which is quickly being filled with some fantastic items!). The remaining berries (about 2 cups worth) got put in a small pot and sprinkled with a bit of sugar. This is the great thing about making things from scratch. You get to control every single ingredient. I don't like super duper sweet jams, and most of the recipes I found on the internet called for a large amount of sugar, so I just used less! Next was to bring the berries up to a boil, then turn down the heat and slowly simmer for about 45 minutes, until the mixture had thickened. I let it cool slightly in the pot, then transferred into a tupperware container. Once it was completely cooled it went in the fridge for me to start enjoying! And let me tell you - It. Is. GOOD! Fantastic on plain bread, or a small drop added to plain nonfat yogurt.

Now that I know how easy the jam making can be, I can start experimenting with more challenging recipes and yes... the preserving aspect...

To be continued...

The Little Honey Bee turns 1!

Happy Birthday to the Bee! It's my little blogs birthday! Yay! Thanks to everyone for reading!!

(p.s. The cupcake is Dufflet. You can buy them at Loblaws!! Yum!)

Apparently I like singing the F-word...

I've had this song on repeat all afternoon. It's amazingness is completely stuck in my head! So upbeat and catchy! Almost makes me wish I had recently been dumped so I could call it my breakup anthem. Oh well, I'm sure if I think really hard, someone will up into my head... ;)

p.s. NOT an appropriate song to play near children!

Click here to play

Ready to start racing?

We interrupt the many recipe posts to bring you a marathon training update...

This Saturday is sort of the kick off to my racing season. It's the Mid Summers Night 30km. I'd like to say that I'm not at all worried. Cool as a cucumber (or a bowl of chilled gazpacho). But sadly, this is not the case. The Summer heat and humidity have been kicking my ass for weeks. EVERY run has felt like a massive, horrible, sweaty challenge. It's hard to tell if I'm improving, or getting stronger when I feel just as exhausted 13 weeks into training as I did at week 1...

So Saturday's race is 30km. Followed in a few weeks by the Scotia Waterfront Half Marathon. And then the San Francisco FULL Marathon a couple weeks after that. Yes, as of this weekend my goal race is only 8 weeks away. To some, this may seem like a long time. Nothing to worry about. However I remember not too long ago finding out we got into the race. At that time, race day was 25 weeks away. Those 23 weeks have FLOWN by. Which means the next 8 weeks will likely fly by also. And in addition to my upcoming races, there are also the most difficult training runs still to come.

Nerves are creeping up. Doubts starting to set in...

So now may just be the perfect time to pull out a book my friend Yvonne at work gave me for Christmas. It's called "What I Talk About When I Talk About Running". To quote Yvonne, "I saw it and thought it was everything you were about - Japan and running!". It's a fantastic little memoir about author Haruki Murakami's experiences over the years as a long distance runner. Now I personally am not a fan of the Oprah approved, chicken soup for the soul, hug yourself daily self help genre (I refused to read "The Secret" even after my mom tried to pawn it off on me after she accidentally stole it from Costco - that's a funny story for another day...), but while reading this book I found myself constantly tagging pages or underlining sections that I found inspiring or could relate to. The quote that struck me most, the one I will now be repeating to myself before each race or difficult long run "Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional." I'm running a long tough distance. It's going to hurt. It may suck. But how much I let that effect me is totally under MY control.

"What I Talk About When I Talk About Running" is a great book to read in general, but if you're a runner, it's an absolute MUST!

But for now, wish me luck for Saturday. Or as we runners sometimes say - Hope I can kick asphalt!

Pesto Party!

So in our effort to save a few bucks and eat healthier, Sibylle and I have decided to have Saturday morning cooking parties. Not only do we get to have fun hanging out and cooking in their fab kitchen, but we end up with loads of tasty food in our refrigerators and freezers!

This weekend we decided homemade pesto was on the menu. I love pesto, but buying it at the grocery store can be a little pricey. Especially if you want good quality. Fortunately for us Sibylle had a great pesto recipe from her sister. We bought the cheese at Costco (which is quickly becoming one of my favourite places) and the produce at a local fruit market. This was a much more economical then buying the ingredients at the grocery store. You'll need a LOT of basil for this (we needed about 10 cups). At the grocery store Basil was about $1 per stem. At the fruit market we got a MASSIVE bag for about $3. Well, we think it cost us $3. We bought 4 items and were only charged for 3. It's possible the cashier liked us. We left the store and started reenacting that Ikea commercial, running down the street laughing "start the car, start the car!!" Bottom line, grocery expensive, fruit market cheap!

When we got back to Sibylle's we quickly got to work prepping all of the ingredients. With everything ready to go, and a super powerful food processor, we were able to make quick work of this. I recommend doing this in several batches.

The trick is to taste every batch you make, adjusting quantities as needed. Then you mix all the batches together in a large mixing bowl, so you end up the a perfect mixture.

The results were DELICIOUS! We filled 15 jars with the most amazingly flavourful pesto I've ever tasted. As Sibs and I licked the mixing bowl clean we came up with a million different ways to use this gorgeous green sauce. The best part is knowing that I have a freezer full of this stuff!

Here's the recipe we used. This makes 1 batch:

3 cups of fresh basil

7 cloves of garlic

1/2 cup of pine nuts

1/2 cups of parmesan cheese

1 1/2 tsp of salt

1/2 tsp of pepper

1/2 cup of olive oil

1/3 cup of lemon juice

Add all the dry ingredients to the food processor and pulse a few times, then add the lemon juice and olive oil. Pulse until you have the desired consistency.

Summer in a bowl

The other weekend I had dinner at my friends Traven and Kristin's new house. It was a beautiful summer evening. We ate on their fantastic third floor patio. But the beautiful summery setting was no much for the beautiful summer meal Kristin made. We started with a wonderful bowl of chunky cool gazpacho. I can not remember the last time I tasted something so fresh and amazing. It was like a big bowl of Summer! Tasted delightful AND super healthy! The next day I had to email Kristin for the recipe, which she was kind enough to pass along to me. I knew Sibs would love this as much as I did, so we decided to make some on Saturday for dinner. With the help of the food processor, it took us about 5 minutes to make.

I only wish there was a smell feature on this blog. Because it smells incredible! So good in fact that we kept sticking our heads in the fridge while it was cooling just to get a good sniff! If you're looking for a fast, delicious and SUPER healthy summer meal, I absolutely recommend making Kristin's gazpacho:

- 6-8 ripe tomatos
- 1 cucumber (seeds and skin removed)
- 1 red pepper
- about 1/2 cup onion (green, red or white, they're all good)
- 1 clove of garlic
- about 1/4 cup olive oil (more if it's a bit bitter)
- about 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
- parsley (optional)
- salt and pepper

Why can't everyday be Saturday?

Stress free Saturday morning breakfasts are the BEST! This weekend I wanted to make waffles for Sibylle and Steve (they make me dinner ALL the time!) Any good waffle needs a good topping. The three of us are trying to eat healthier, so I thought a warm apple compote would do the trick.

The results? Amazing! The apples have the perfect sweet/tart balance and are perfect on top of the waffles. This compote is also delicious on ice cream or plain yogurt (should you feel like being healthy!)

Just like all food I love, the apple compote is SUPER easy to make:

Cook chopped apples with a pinch of sugar and cinnamon, squeeze of lemon and a little water. The apples take about 15-20 minutes to cook through and start to break down. Mash slightly for a more apple sauce like texture. This compote is also great pears.

So what do you drink with homemade waffles and apple compote? Homemade lattes of course! While I prepped the food, Sibs whipped up these fantastic drinks. She's even working on her foam art

I'm not sure, but I think this little fellow was supposed to be Steve...

If only every morning could be so tasty!

Letting the market speak to me

In the Summer months I love going to the fruit market with absolutely no plans of what I want to make. I let the produce "speak to me". I buy what looks good. Figuring out what to make as I go along. Last weekend EVERYTHING looked good! The fact that I had been running for over 3 hours may have had something to do with that! It was hard to restrain myself. But I decided to make a fresh bean salad and roasted potatoes.

The bean salad was SUPER easy to make and SUPER tasty. If you only add the vinaigrette right before serving you can make this in a large batch and enjoy it all week! Here is the recipe:

- yellow beans

- green beans

- thinly sliced radishes

For the vinaigrette:

- 3 parts olive oil

- 1 part rice wine vinegar

- 1 part sesame oil

- sprinkling of toasted sesame seeds

- good pinches of fresh ginger and garlic

- salt and pepper to taste

Blanch the beans then toss with the radishes. Mix together the vinaigrette and lightly dress the beans. Eat and enjoy!

My Summer of Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll!

I love having great books to read in the Summer. But I usually want something on the lighter side. One Summer I read The Incredible Lightness of Being. I can assure you, there is nothing "light" about that book! But I can't do the "chick lit" thing. (The last time I was at my parents house I decided to read Something Borrowed to help me fall asleep. I became enraged instead!) But this Summer I think I've found the perfect alternatives. First up is East Riders, Raging Bulls, a fascinating book about how the New Hollywood of the 70's saved the movie industry. It's page after page of insider stories about some of the most iconic films ever made. It's got the drugged up craziness of Denis Hooper. The bed hopping of Warren Beatty. And is anyone cooler the Jack Nicholson? I think not.

Next, it's Furious Love, the story of Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. I am VERY excited to start reading this book. Last month Vanity Fair published sections from the book and it is a REAL page turner. Those two drank hard, fought hard and loved hard. Who needs Brangelina when you've got these two!

I'm Tee'd off!

I have loved running for a few years now. I still love it. Will always love it. But it's not "new" to me anymore. Yes, the marathon distance is new. And I can certainly improve my run times. But it's still just running. For the most part, I know what I'm doing now. (Though at times that is up for debate!) I was starting to feel like I needed a new challenge. Enter golf! Sibylle had decided to learn this summer so she could play with Steve. She asked if I'd be interested in taking lessons with her. Always up for something new, I agreed! And what fun it has become! We signed up for lessons at the Dentonia golf course in Scarborough. It could not be more convenient, right outside of the Victoria Park subway station. The lessons were great (VERY reasonably priced). We got instruction from a very patient golf pro once a week for an hour. The funniest was when he'd watch us take a few swings. We look up, eager to hear what he had to say. His usual comment - "Ummm... okay...." then he'd walk away. It was hilarious. But thankfully, my swing has gotten better. I can't wait to go out and play a round.

One of the BEST parts, this has opened up a whole new world of fun equipment/apparel! Polo shirts and golf gloves?! Yes please!

Four!