1. I’m officially a crazy person, but not the only one: I went running outside Tuesday and Wednesday evening. It was hot. Even too hot for me and after Wednesday’s run I decided I was crazy. That said there were other runners out, so at least I have company in my craziness

2. The running skort I wore on Tuesday night is the devil. I’ve only worn it a couple of times before and thought it was o.k. I was wrong. This piece of clothing has chafed the hell out of my inner thighs.

3. Running earlier in the day may be the best solution. Just came back from doing my long run of the week and was a much more pleasant run.

4. I’m officially in love with this new top I bought – not too sure about the colour. Thanks to The Little Honey Bee for helping me discover this!

5. I much prefer Hollywood gelato over Il Gelatiere.

6. Born to Run is a good read. I highly recommend it. It definitely makes you think about your own running technique. One of the best parts of this book, though, was this part:

“Forget yoga. Every runner I know who does yoga gets hurt.”

What do you think?

In an earlier post I talked about how I did not want to waste the CSA strawberries I got earlier this week. So, after 5 days of them sitting in my fridge I finally decided what to do with them.

Now, most people would probably choose to make something somewhat healthy with them, but I thought why not make strawberry cupcakes for B. Having never made strawberry cupcakes before I had no idea how they would turn out, but B seems to think they pass the taste test.

Now, here’s the funny thing about me – even though I made these cupcakes from scratch I probably won’t have more than a bite or two of them. Sweet things are just not really my thing. I much prefer savoury things like chips and this Mexican style soup I made for dinner:

One of the main reasons I made this spicy dish was to help get rid of my cold and sore throat. I love spice and find that helps chase away any colds I get. Apparently I may have put too many fresh jalapenos in it for some people

Have a great Sunday evening!

So, as you all know I was quite excited about yesterday’s delivery of my first ever CSA from Culinarium. The food share I’ll be receiving for the next 19 weeks is my birthday gift from my parents. Thank you!

On Monday I received an email (they send out a weekly email to participants letting them know what they should expect) from the program coordinator letting me know what I would be receiving on my Tuesday pick-up. I was expecting to receive:

Hot house tomatoes
Seedless cucumbers
Leaf lettuce
Tatsoi - A dark green Asian salad green that has a spoon-like shape and a mild mustard flavour similar to bok choy,  it is generally eaten raw, but may be added to soups or stir-fries at the end of cooking.
Radish
Spinach
Strawberries

So, what did I get in my box?

The moment of truth…

When I opened the box I saw everything that was in the email as well as a few extra surprises…

I also got peas, zucchini and rhubarb! Thank you Mervin from Triple Cord for adding those treats to my box. Much appreciated!

So, now that I have all these fruits’n'veggies in my fridge what have I cooked up?

Last night I tried out Holistic Miss’ Quinoa Tabbouleh which was delicious and tonight’s dinner was a stir-fry packed with tons of green goodness. Both perfect post-running meals – have done a couple of 6km runs this week as preparation for this weekend’s half-marathon.

Tomorrow’s lunch will be a recipe taken from The Kind Life – a recipe that will help me use up some of the radishes I got!

Before I go I thought I’d share a couple of reads I have found useful over the past week:

• Top ten mistakes made by Farmer Market Newbs
• What’s in season?

Today I got a craving for blueberry muffins. Rather than go and pick one of these up I decided to try and find a recipe. Thanks to the Epicurious iPhone app I found a number of good options. I decided to try out the somewhat “Healthy Blueberry and Banana Muffins” one. This is probably the first time in 15 years that I have attempted to make muffins – I used to be a much better baker in my younger years!

Whipping these up took only 10 minutes of prep time and 20 minutes in the oven. I added a couple of extras – some cinnamon and a dab of some local blueberry honey I had one hand.

The verdict?

Delicious and best served with some local honey. Great post-dinner treat and perhaps a yummy pre-long run breakfast tomorrow?

This week is my second week of cooking quick and healthy evening meals chez moi. I have made a number of different things over the past week or so, but the one I loved the most was…vegetable quinoa soup!

Vegetable quinoa soup is surprisingly delicious, filling, easy to make and a perfect post Sunday run food. My friend ‘holisticmiss’ passed along the recipe to me and within 12 hours of receiving it I was making it. It literally took 15-20 minutes to prep and make. I can’t wait to make it again. I don’t think B was too keen on it, but I’m sure he’ll come round.

All of this planning what I’m going to eat at night is having a lot of benefits, but the main one I have noticed is that it is strengthening my relationship with B. Rather than us trying to figure out what to eat at 8 p.m. we are excited to see how this evening’s meal will turn out.