I promise I didn’t forget about you, little blog and the three or so people who read you! Wifi in Israel is very expensive and not so great for uploading pictures when you can find some free signals. I’ll be posting in two parts about the trip soon: part one will be food (it was a glutenfest for sure, but there was a surprising amount that wasn’t) and part two will be sights, so stay tuned!

MASHED POTATO BAR. Something I never would have dreamed of yet was so delicious and perfect. Filing this idea away for the future for sure. (I topped mine with cheddar, pesto, broccoli, chives, and, of course, bacon.)

Congratulations Molly and Chris, and thanks for feeding us so well!

(Cupcakes from Butter Lane, my very favorite, who are planning to add gluten-free options!)

I’ve definitely been using this time to take advantage of foods I won’t be able to eat come June, like specific pizzas, cupcakes, and bagels from my favorite places. But now that GF-Day looms ever closer, I’ve realized I really need to buckle down and start preparing. There are a lot of products that I’ll need to find replacements for (more on that later this week or next!), but there are a few things I eat on a regular basis that I’ll need to find gluten-free replacements for. Some of the big ones:

Whole wheat bread: Oh bread, my love. My go-to lunch to bring to work is a sandwich, and my go-to I-have-no-food dinner is a grilled cheese. While I’ll try to replace these with options like salads, a girl still needs a good loaf of bread.

Granola bars: I depend on these for quick breakfasts and snacks when I’m short on time, or when I’m not feeling very hungry but know that I need to eat something. I especially like Luna Bars because they have a lot of extra nutrients and vitamins packed into them, but I’m not sure if GF granola bars get that fancy.

Pasta: I have pasta once a week at the very bare minimum, but usually more frequently than that. So far I’ve been told to avoid rice pasta and try quinoa pasta for texture, but I’ll definitely have to try a bunch until I find one that most closely tastes and feels like my beloved semolina.

Flour: This is probably one of the most important things I’ll need to find that I truly love. I’m an avid baker and have a lot of recipes I’d like to adapt, but I’ll need just the right gluten-free flour blend to do so. I also use flour in lots of other recipes, like when breading chicken or making a roux for macaroni and cheese. I’d also like to be able to make things with it that I can freeze for quick use, since I won’t be able to buy them anymore, like pizza dough and pie crust. King Arthur, Cup for Cup, and Bob’s Red Mill are the brands I hear most often (after “make your own flour blend!” which is just not possible in my teeny kitchen). I’m planning to start with King Arthur, since that’s the brand I use and love now, and all their products tend to be quite good.

Do you have any gluten-free product recommendations? I’d love to hear them! (Bonus points if I can get them at Trader Joe’s or Fairway.)

Despite barely sleeping at all the night before, I was actually not too nervous before the race started (at 8am. At the Bronx Zoo. Which is fairly far into the Bronx).

See? Cool as a cucumber with my even-cooler-cucumber friends, who had done this before.

For the most part, the race went really well. I didn’t have to walk at all until halfway through, and even then only for about two minutes. I did have to quickly walk twice more, up two giant hills where it smelled like animal poop and I felt sick. Obviously there was no way to prepare for the poop smell, but I do wish I had known to train a bit on inclines, because I was definitely not expecting the zoo to be quite so hilly.

I finished in 35:49, beyond my best time ever; before this, I hadn’t finished the distance in less than 40 minutes. However, according to all our running apps, the course was a bit shy of a full 5K (the mile markers were also waaaay off), so I would probably have finished in more like 37 minutes–still relatively awesome for me. My goal was to finish in less than 40 minutes and not be last, and I did both those things.

I don’t think I would recommend the Bronx Zoo as a good first time 5K spot though. Between the poop and the hills, I felt like I was going to throw up a lot of the time. This is what I looked like when I finished:

Despite the face of joy above, I am planning to run another 5K this fall–either Tunnel to Towers (through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel to the World Trade Center, for 9/11) or the New York Aquarium’s Run for the Wild in October (for a TBD sea creature), assuming it’s still happening with the aquarium still partially closed from Hurricane Sandy. I’m not doing this because I particularly enjoyed the experience, but because if I don’t have a goal, I won’t keep running as hard as I have been. Plus, it’s nice to run with friends. We didn’t all stick together while running (slowpoke Sally over here), but it’s nice to have friendly support before and after the race. So my new goal is two parts: a) to be able to run the entire thing without walking, any potential hills be damned, and b) to be able to finish closer to 30 minutes.

I still feel kind of sick from lack of sleep, but overall I am really proud of myself. Seven weeks ago I struggled to run 60 seconds at a time without stopping and truly didn’t think being ready for this race was possible, and for a first-time runner, I kicked its ass. My goal for this year was to be a healthier person, and I’m sticking to it.

And now if you’ll excuse me, I’m only going running once this week.

Maybe after this weekend I can write a post about how I won the 5K tomorrow. HAHAHhahaahAHahAHahA.

*This post is in no way brought to you by Lean In. Seriously.

Rather than dwelling on the upsetting, the aftermath of tragedies like this make for a really good time to appreciate the good things we have in life, and I’m lucky there are so many to pick from. Here are four:
Spring appears to be here to stay.
They make little bow ties and cuffs for dogs (the joys of being on Petco’s press list).
Baseball season is here, along with my future husband Robinson Cano.
Potluck taco Tuesday (tacluck?) at work.

What are you thankful for?

Great, non-shocking news: those biscuits make anything incredible, and these mini pot pies were amaaaazing. They’re a great way to use up stuff in your freezer and are really fast to make; at about half an hour from start to finish, you could even make these on a gym night.

Now if you can tell me where I could get gluten-free versions of these delightfully buttery, totally-not-organic biscuits, we’ll be best friends.

Mini Chicken Pot Pies
Ingredients
2 thin-sliced chicken breasts
1 1/2 cups assorted frozen vegetables of your choice (I used equal parts corn, peas, and broccoli)
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 tbsp cornstarch
1 can Grands biscuits, or similar
1/2 cup shredded cheese (optional)
salt
pepper
olive oil
thyme (optional)
rosemary (optional)

Instructions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. If your oven is anything like mine, take this time to go write a novel, conduct a symphony, watch all the old Arrested Developments, or another activity that will keep you busy while your crappy oven takes its sweet time warming up.

Heat a grill pan over high heat. While pan is heating, pour a little olive oil on a plate. Place chicken on oil and season with large pinches of salt and pepper, and small pinches of thyme and rosemary, if desired. Repeat on other side. Grill chicken until cooked through, about 3 to 4 minutes per side. Remove from heat when finished, let rest one minute, then cut into small pieces.

While chicken cooks, put all your vegetables in a medium microwave-safe bowl. Cover (with something also microwave-safe, and not plastic) and microwave for 3 to 4 minutes, until vegetables are just defrosted (it’s okay if they’re still cold in spots). Add cut-up chicken to bowl and season with salt and pepper.

Also while chicken cooks, whisk cornstarch with an equal amount of water. Heat chicken broth in a small saucepan until steaming, then add in cornstarch mixture. Let cook, stirring regularly, until broth has reduced and thickened a bit. (If it doesn’t seem to really thicken, this is okay too.) Pour about half of the liquid in your bowl with the veggies and chicken and stir to combine.

Grease a metal muffin tin. Try not to get scared as you pop open your can of biscuits. Flatten out each one with your hands and press into muffin tin, making sure to press firmly against the sides. Stuff each crust with as much of the filling as you can stuff in there (you’ll probably have some left over). Top a few with cheese as an experiment if you like, you know, for science. Bake for 12 minutes or until crusts are golden. Let sit 2 to 3 minutes, then dig in. Try not to eat all of them at once.

Last week the Couch to 5K app had me run for 5-minute stretches for the first time, and I really struggled with it. By the third workout I could do it, and with walking I was able to do the full 5K distance, but I still found the 5-minute runs really difficult, partly because they just seemed endless. Running outside solved that! Instead of being bored, I had people to watch, sights to see, and sunshine to enjoy, all of which made the 5-minute stretches seem not bad at all. I’d never been on the East River path before (usually sticking to the west side and the Christopher Street pier), and was pleasantly surprised by how nice it was. It also didn’t hurt that it was finally 60 degrees, sunny, and spring in New York this weekend.

You’re pretty, New York.

The one thing I did find difficult about running outside was pacing myself. At the gym, I set the treadmill to 5.2, and I run at 5.2 miles per hour. But outside, I realized that my natural inclination is to run faster–good for when I’ve been running longer and want to improve my time, but bad for right now when my goal is to run a 5K without burning out. I finally figured out that if I really watched myself and actively thought about going slower, and if I kept my iPhone on songs that I knew I ran on the beat to on the treadmill, I could use the music to keep my pace in check.

I’ll still need to use the gym on weeknights because I don’t have enough daylight yet for running outside by the time I get home from work (which is really just as well since then I can attempt to do weights and things), but I’m definitely going to start doing all my weekend runs outside, at least until it gets too hot. I still wouldn’t say I enjoy running, but when I’m outside in the sunshine, I don’t hate it.