She wanted to have an appetizer, a main entree and dessert. So her Mom and I e-mailed back and forth and I gave her some ideas about what we could do, made a list of ingredients and made a recipe card for her friends to take home.

I belong to a Mom mail group in my town and a Mom had asked for help because her daughter wanted a cooking party, but she had no idea how to make it happen. I e-mailed her right away and said “I can help!” Then I called my twin sister Biz and asked if she would join in the fun – and she jumped at the chance.

When we got to the party, the birthday girl Sophie had set the tables so fancy!

The kitchen was gorgeous – Biz and I were drooling over the kitchen island with a sink in it, the 6 burner stove, gorgeous lighting – it was deluxe!

On the menu? Pot stickers for an appetizer, thin crust and deep dish pizza for the main meal, and crepes for dessert.

The Mom, Maryanne had everything ready when we got there.

The pot stickers turned out great and the girls spent time plating their dishes beautifully:

The girls got to chop veggies, fill their won ton wrappers as Biz and I sauteed them.

Once we finished eating pot stickers, it was on to the main dish – pizza!

My team did thin crust, and Biz’s team made deep dish. I showed the girls how to make the no rise pizza dough.

2 cups flour
1 cup warm water
1 packet of yeast
pinch of salt.

Mix the water and yeast together and let sit for 5 minutes. Add that to the flour and mix with a wooden spoon until it starts to get incorporated. Then you can take it out and knead it for a few minutes. Then just roll it into 1 big pizza or 2 smaller ones.

My team decided on green pepper, onions and spinach.

I like how the girls thought to place the green peppers around the edges – it turned out great!

Now my sister’s team made a deep dish pizza – the link to that recipe is HERE

Everyone loved the deep dish too!

And after the girls were done eating pizza – it was time for dessert!

Sophie wanted crepes – so we made crepes with strawberries, bananas and Nutella – you can’t go wrong with that.

I used the recipe from Mark Bitterman’s How to Cook Everything and it’s super easy to make.

1 cup all-purpose flour
Pinch salt
1- 1/4 cups milk
2 eggs
2 T corn oil

Just mix together in a bowl and take about 1/4 cup of the batter for each crepe. It only takes about 3 minutes per side.

Then, just fill it with whatever you like!

All in all it was a great night – Biz and I got to do something we love – we got to spend time together and met a great group of girls.

Happy 12th birthday Sophie!

I’m training for the half – my husband is training for the full marathon, which of all things takes place at U of I in Champaign where he went to undergrad and law school AND it’s on his 50th birthday – so not a bad way to spend your birthday!

I am not going to lie though – I was super nervous about this morning. Since we’ve had such a mild winter this year, several times in December and January – we ran in shorts sleeves and shorts – that every time I saw the weather this week – and it kept getting colder and colder I was worried I was going to freeze my ass off!

The temp was 15 when we got downtown to the Chicago Lakefront path. We had to be there at 8:00 a.m. I wore my tank top on the first layer, a long sleeve with turtleneck Nike shirt, my short sleeve Team in Training shirt over that, and TWO windbreakers + I put on 2 pairs of running pants – just to make sure

We arrived in the parking lot at the Wilson exit which had not been plowed yet – so we didn’t have to pay for parking because you couldn’t even see where the parking spots were – so that was excellent.

There was about 20 people who braved the cold. The full marathoners had to run 6 miles, the half marathoners (which is me) had to run 4 miles. The great thing about the Lakefront path is it’s so pretty – and it was snowing huge snowflakes so it kind of felt like you were running in a snow globe!

We always start with a mission moment and someone talks about why they run for Team in Training - And yes a few girls wore tutu's!

The path is so pretty!

So pretty! And all the snow was removed from the path which made it much easier!

One of the Team members brought their dog - supporting the Team

That's my hubby David as we were driving to the Lakefront

It was very cloudy and kind of foggy driving into the City - we can get to the Training from our house in about 25 minutes

So even though when we were standing around ready to get started I was cold – once I got going at about the halfway point I was actually getting warm! I even took off my gloves at one point. And since the path was cleared, my shoes didn’t get wet – so that was a bonus too because I thought I would be running on snow the whole time.

So I’ve got to really keep to my weekday schedule and get my runs in – because next Saturday we are already doing 6 miles!

Here is my schedule for this race:

January 14 – 4 miles
January 21 – 6 miles
January 28 – 6 miles
February 50 minutes – we have a long distance clinic talking about getting into longer distances and things you need to know
February 11 – 8 miles
February 18 – 6 miles
February 25 – 8 miles
March 3 – 90 minutes
March 10 – 10 miles – yikes!
March 17 – 8 miles
March 24 – 12 miles
March 31 – 60 minutes
April 7 – 12 miles
April 14 – 100 minutes
April 21 – 60 minutes
April 28 – EVENT DAY!

So not a long season. When my husband and I did the Chicago Marathon in 2005 and 2006 we started training with the Team in February and the marathon wasn’t until October – so it will be weird for this training to go by so fast.

If you’ve ever wanted to train for an event check out Team in Training – they have training all over the country (www.teamintraining.org)

AND – since we are raising money to fight blood cancers – HERE IS OUR FUNDRAISING PAGE - no donation is too small!

Have a great weekend everyone!

This pesto is AWESOME!

This pesto is made with almonds and peppers and is delish. A little goes a long way, so you don’t have to use that much to add flavor to what you are making. Last week I made lunch with it a few times.

I used a cooked potato, mixed veggies, green onions, peppers, a scrambled egg and added some of the pesto and a leftover Target Chicken sausage – cut up. It was super filling and yummy!

Filling lunch!

But onto the RIck Bayless sauces! You can now buy in the grocery store some of his signature sauces. To be honest I wasn’t quite sure how it would taste – but was pleasantly surprised that these tasted so good! Definitely worth it to check out. I got the taco sauce and the enchilada sauce.

With the enchilada sauce I cut up some chicken, added a bag of frozen peppers from Trader Joe’s and cooked that until it was done. In a separate pot, I cooked up some orzo and drained that. I added the orzo to the chicken and peppers and used 1 packet of the enchilada sauce. Dinner was done in less than 30 minutes and there was no leftovers – so I consider that a hit!

Orzo, peppers, chicken and enchilada sauce

So thanks to my brother Charlie and his family for giving us such great gifts in our Christmas basket this year – we really loved everything!

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And on the Team in Training front, my husband and I went to the kick-off at Eduardo’s pizza in Skokie, IL on Saturday. Basically it’s a getting to know you, meet the coaches, go for a short 30 minute run, come back, eat pizza (nice!) and then we had a clinic about what to wear when it’s cold outside and layering from 2 men from Fleet Feet running store in Chicago. Although who needs that advice now since today is going to be in the 50′s again! Winter hasn’t really come yet this year – which is fine with me!

We got some stuff too – 2 new Team in Training shirts, the white one is for being alumni since this is my 4th event with the Team. We got water bottles and reps from FRS which is a company that has sports drinks for athletes, so we got to take some samples of that too.

The loot we got at the kick off!

It was a great time – we saw some team members from when we did our last event back in 2007 – and met Doug a patient honoree who is battling lymphoma – but also raising money and running events with Team in Training – I always get choked up meeting people like that.

So, our fundraising page is open for donations – no donation is too small – it all adds up!

Have a great day everyone!

My husband and I are super excited because tomorrow is the Kick-Off party for Team in Training for our event taking place on April 28th. I am running the half marathon and my husband is going to do the full marathon.

We are raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society – SO we have started a 5 buck Friday – if you have an extra $5.00 to spare – please consider donating to this great cause!

Our FUNDRAISING PAGE IS HERE WHERE YOU CAN MAKE A DONATION ONLINE.

The kick off is always great. You meet the coaches, we get a mentor who we will also meet for support throughout the season, as well as getting to know the other runners. I will be updating everyone throughout the training about how we are doing, so come back to check up on me!

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Since I love to cook, I record a TON of cooking shows. I am lucky to not only have Food TV, but also the Cooking Channel too. As I was scrolling to see what shows were on, I was intrigued by one show so I decided to record it.

Bobby Deen, Paula Deen’s son, has his own cooking show that feautures recipes that his Mom has made, but Bobby has revamped them into healthier fare! I’m including the link to Cooking Channel and the recipes he’s redone.

Check the recipes out here

The interesting part was he would compare the calories and fat of his Mom’s food (which has horrible stats of course) and then compare to his version. Did you know she makes a bread pudding casserole that has Krispy Kreme donuts as the base of the recipe??? He redid that one using skim milk, non fat whipped cream and whole wheat donuts as the base (and a lot less donuts too!)

So, if you don’t have Cooking Channel, they have tons of recipes on line.

So, what’s up for your weekend plans??? Have a great one!

Happy New Year everyone! It’s been a great Holiday – I’ve had 10 days off in a row, so I cannot complain about that

I also slept in every day, I did run a few times (running into my friend Jacky while we were both running in our neighborhood. I had Christmas with my husbands side of the family on Christmas Day and yesterday was spent having a 2nd Christmas at my Mom’s since she was out of town visiting my brother.

I got a little more organized, I spent time reading a new book “The Kitchen Counter Cooking School” which is a great read, we got a new to me (used) car – which I am VERY Happy about. Here is my new car:

We took the kids to the eye Dr. and Mark and Paul’s prescription changed (Mark’s doubled!) and Claire was complaining she couldn’t see close – so she got new glasses too! We went to America’s Best – and if you don’t get all the “extras” it is 2 pairs for $69.95 WITH the eye exam – so it’s a great deal. We are waiting to pick those up – but they are super excited about getting new glasses

So here are some pictures from my Holiday:

Mark getting Snuggy with our cat Max on New Years Eve!

Paul and Claire opening presents on Christmas

Mark got a donut baking pan, and has already made a batch! If you can see in the background, my Dad painted a portrait of me and my twin sister when we were babies!

I made a kick ass lasagna for Christmas Eve dinner - the best one I made so far!

Mark's first donuts using the donut baking pan my Mom gave him

So – all in all a great Holiday. And I am one of those people who makes New Year’s Resolutions – so here are mine:

Enter a cooking contest sometime this year
Learn to can – I really want to make homemade sweet and spicy pickles this year
I have an idea for a cookbook – so I’m going to start working on that
Run a half marathon – since I’m signed up I have to do it! April 28th 2012. Don’t forget to donate HERE
And I’m not putting down lose weight, my plan is to continue eating great and exercising and because of that the weight will come off, but I’m not going to count points, or calories, just focus on healthy foods and correct portions!

SO what’s your New Years Resolutions???