Ruminations

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Teriyaki Stir-fry, Blended Oatmeal Cookies & Good Reads

Recipes:

Teriyaki Stir-fry. Super good & easy. It all starts with the marinade:

In a gallon size zip-top plastic bag, mix the following:

1/2 C. Vegetable Oil

1 C. carbonated drink: 7-Up, Mt. Dew, etc.

1/4 C. Soy Sauce

1 tsp. Horseradish (this can be omitted or substitute with 1 tsp. onion powder or ginger)

1 tsp. Garlic powder

Add chicken breasts, seal bag, shake to coat the chicken, place bag in bowl, and refrigerate. Marinate 2-4 chicken breasts up to 24 hours (sometimes I only get 2 - 3 hours in, and its just fine).

I then cube the chicken for stir-fry. You could leave it whole for grilling. SAVE THE MARINADE!!!

Prepare stir-fry veggies. I just use whatever is on hand. This picture shows broccoflower, bell peppers, celery, and carrots.

Pour marinade in microwave-safe dish. Add about 1/4 C. brown sugar, stir, then microwave on high 2 minutes or until it comes to a full boil. You want it to boil to kill off any chicken germs. In a small separate bowl, mix about 1 Tbs. cornstarch with 1 Tbs. cold water. Add cornstarch mix to the marinade, stir, then microwave another minute or two until the sauce thickens. It is now safe to taste (be careful though, it's hot). Add more sugar or soy sauce, ginger or garlic, or whatever you like, to make the teriyaki sauce.

Stir-fry the chicken cubes in hot oil (peanut oil is great) until cooked through. Remove chicken. Add vegetables to your wok or skillet, sprinkle with salt and sugar (this brings out the flavor nicely). Stir-fry the veggies just until heated through, but still crunchy. I hate soggy-vegetable stir-fry! Return chicken, dump as much of the once-marinade/now teriyaki sauce on your stir-fry, stir to combine, and remove from heat. Serve over sticky rice if you have it. Long-grain is fine, too - but it's just not as good.

Blended Oatmeal Cookies

This is one of my favorite cookies. It comes from my mother-in-law.

2 C. butter or margarine (I actually use 1 c. of shortening & 1 cup butter/marg. because of our high elevation: shortening helps the cookies not turn out flat).

2 C. Granulated white sugar

2 C. Brown sugar

4 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

5 C. oatmeal (Here's the only tricky part: fill your blender with 5 cups oats - quick or rolled. Then blend the oats until they turn to a fine powder. This is your blended oatmeal :) Not that hard, is it?)

4-5 C. flour (you can use whole wheat, or all white, or a blend)

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. baking powder

2 tsp. baking soda

Chocolate chip (up to 24 oz) and/or nuts to taste - optional! (I love these without any chips or nuts).

Cream together butter, sugars, eggs & vanilla. Add blended oatmeal and the rest of the ingredients, and mix together. Roll into small balls or drop on cookie sheets. Bake at 375 7-8 minutes (or 325 in the convection oven for about the same time). These cookies do taste better if they're on the under-cooked side of things (and I usually like cookies on the over-cooked side!).

Running: I feel like the Energizer Bunny. It must be left-over glycogen from fueling during Saturday's marathon, because I certainly haven't been eating very much. But I have tons of energy. Technically this should be my "recovery" week, with light running and plenty of resting. I can't do it. I have too much twitch in my muscles right now. So Saturday was the 26.2 mile marathon. I rested on Sunday, as always.

Monday I woke up at 4:45, felt rested, so went for a 5am swim. I only did one of my normal two miles (I was trying to be judicious, and I was feeling tired). But a few hours later I couldn't hold still so I took my girls out in the stroller for a 4 mile run. It was actually 3.25, then we stopped to look at flowers and visit with neighbors, and finished the other .75 afterwards. It's tough pushing about 100lbs. of girls, stroller, blankets, water bottles, treats, and books up Rexburg's hills into headwinds! But we do it and we have fun - usually singing songs if I'm breathing well enough, or the girls will cheer me on ("Go, Mommy, Go!") when I can't talk.

Tuesday was a normal mid-distance tempo run. I ran 7.25 miles on the treadmill, inclined at 3, at a 7:30min/mile pace (which translates to a 8 - 8:30min/mile pace if I were on the road and depending on hills). Wednesday I woke up at 5:45 rested and ready to go. I decided to give my feet a break and rode my bike trainer for an hour before the kids got up. Then the girls joined me for some P90X abs work.

Tomorrow I should rest. And I want to. We'll see if this energy will have dissipated by then. I have a little over 3 weeks until my next marathon. I hope I don't over-do it now and bonk on my next marathon. Trying to be wise!!!

Of course, there are people that run 50 miles every day...or 4 days in a row with a one day rest, then off to another 4 days of 50 milers each day (until 2000 miles have been run)! (see http://www.runhope.com/). AWESOME!

Reading: I've been carrying my new book around with me for days, in hopes that I could grab a minute here or there to read. I've left poor Horatio Hornblower in captivity too long, and I have to see him rescued or escape! What a delightful book. I am pleasantly surprised at the readability of a Napoleonic era book about a midshipman - both subjects foreign to me. It's a Good read indeed.

I'm also about to begin "Left to Tell." I haven't started it, but here's a synopsis:

ImmaculĂ©e shares her miraculous story of how she survived during the Rwanda genocide in 1994 when she and seven other women huddled silently together in the cramped bathroom of a local pastor’s house for 91 days! In this captivating and inspiring book, ImmaculĂ©e shows us how to embrace the power of prayer, forge a profound and lasting relationship with God, and discover the importance of forgiveness and the meaning of truly unconditional love and understanding—through our darkest hours. http://www.lefttotell.com/book/index.php

Ruminations and Relations/Family: I spent all my thoughts already on finishing up my post on the marathon. That'll have to count as today's ruminations. I put the marathon on as a separate post because it just didn't seem to be the kind of thing that should be preceded by a cookie recipe. Just sayin'. :)

4 comments:

  1. Left to Tell will change your life. It is such a good book and Imaculee is an amazing example. Enjoy the read. Your blog is so much fun to read. Did you ever finish your book? You are a great writer.

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  2. Thanks for the recommendation on the book! That means a lot coming from you. Now I'm at peace with putting Horatio down for a while so I can tackle this new book (poor Horatio will just have to stay captured a little longer).

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  3. Oh, and I have two stories (I don't dare call them books) that are waiting my attention. Someday...

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  4. those are the BEST cookies . . . but mom ripped if off the standard journal years ago so i'm not sure who the thanks belongs to ;)

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