Ok, I know it’s December, but I really wanted to start this series in November – that way December will get it’s own.  

Hiking the Sandias in snow. 

For most of my life I’ve been fixated on this idea of equality. Probably because I grew up with two sisters and uff da (yep, I’m Minnesotan/Norwegian) everything had to be equal or our parents would hear about it. And really everything was to be as equal as possible. Equal attention, equal number of gifts under the tree (probably didn’t outgrown that until last year), equal monies put towards college, equal chance at all school activities, equal praise, equal affection, equal, equal, equal. Don’t get me wrong, I tried to squew this unequalness to my favor, and probably still do but definitely made a fit if it wasn’t the same as what I observed. 

And with this mentaily of equalness I equated it to fairness. To be fair it had to be equal. But really, life it definitely not fair; and I’m fortunate for much of what I have in life which is not fair or equal. My perception of equality and fairness has been shifting for a while – at least in what I observed elsewhere in the world and what I observed as fair but unequal treatment. Every situation is different and to be treated equal/same for everything wouldn’t be fair to those involved. But for whatever reason I was hanging on to this idea of equalness in many of my relationships, and truthfully it wasn’t making me all that happy. 

 I read an article on relationship pitfalls a few months back that really just snapped a lot into place. It was kind of a DUH or of course moment – ‘obviously that makes sense but I just hadn’t been putting it in that perspective’. To paraphrase a lot – if you try to make everything equal in your relationships (romantic, platonic, familial) it’s only a mater of time before it fails. Equality will doom you but fairness will put things in a realistic light. Yikes, I was/am totally (or at least trying to recover) a counter – I counted everything and it never did make me very happy. I thought fairness was being equal. I’m happy to say I was absolutely wrong. Fairness is about seeing the individual or situation for what it is and needs in that time and place. 

I started to think back on compromises of fairness – these made me the most happy. For example, we’re both neat people, so C cleans the bathrooms which I gag about doing while he doesn’t mind and I vaccuum and clean floors which I like and he hates. And then those instances of frustration or anger when I was taking tally in my head (people can’t read minds Ingrid) – who did the dishes last, who took the bathroom trash downstairs last, and other really trivial stuff. If there are dishes in the sink just do them, chances are C will do them for me another time when I’m sick or busy. And there are things we are just naturally better at than the other – organizing or fixing the hot water heater. These everyday life tasks I was counting were only making me miserable and probably a miserable person to be around. 

In the past few months, I feel happier when I let go of that counting and get something done because I’d like it done and am not waiting around for something to happen or not happen. I’m a grown ass woman who can take care of herself, damnit, I certainly don’t need to wait for someone else to take out the trash in order for me to be happy. I am capable and can get things done. And if it’s already done we can do other fun things! I’ve tried to extend it into other areas of my life as well – just because I called or organized something the last time doesn’t mean I can’t do that again because everyone else has a busy hectic life too. And with friends getting older, starting families, moving away, etc. sometimes you have to be the one to reach out first, second, and sometimes even third or that friendship could fall by the wayside. 

Lastly, being fair to myself. Not being hard on myself if I missed a workout or didn’t eat any vegetables all day (gasp! it’s happened – and as an RD I feel assamed). Feeling stretched because I have too many gym memberships – down to two now. Or lame because I didn’t get a blog post up this week. Basically giving myself a break!

Happiness is not about equality but about fairness to all involved. By being fair I feel like a much better balanced version of myself. 

Peace and love, 

Ingrid

The holidays are fast approaching and trying to find anything healthy for desserts can be tricky! I’ve been doing a bunch of recipe testing over the past weekend for a healthier holiday desserts class I’m teaching in November. The first is something we had occassionally growing up made with apples from our tree outside. Baked Apples! While I recall only eating the apples for dinner, chances are they were the end to an equally tastey meal. My version – only slightly more mature (maybe) adds another flavor note with some orang zest. The second of the two healthier options is a version of another easy spring tart that I fell in love with last year – Caramelized Pear and Honey Cream Tart (droollll).   

 Citrus Oatmeal Stuffed Baked Apples

Makes 4 larger apples

Ingredients

• 4 medium to large apples, I used honecrisp but another firm apple would also work
• 1/4 c brown sugar
• 1/4 c old fashion rolled oats
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp ground cloves
• Zest of 1 orange
• 4 tsp butter
• 1 cup hot water

Directions

1. Preheat over to 375F. 
2. remove the core of the apples, cutting to within a half-inch of the bottom of the apple and creating an opening about 1 inch in diameter. You can use and apple corer, melon baller, or pairing knife. 
3. Mix the brown sugar, oats, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and orange zest. Pack the mixture into the wells. 
4. Set the apples in an 8×8 baking dish and top each with a teaspoon of butter.  Pour the water into the bottom of the pan and cover loosely with foil. This will help the apples to steam rather than dry in the oven. 
5. Bake for 20 inutes and remove the foil. Continiue baking uncovered for another 20-30 minutes or until the apples are soft (can be easily pierced with a pairing knife) and sugar has turned into a syrup. The skin of the apples will also become wrinkled and soft by the end of cooking.  
6. I like to serve with ice cream, but whipped cream or coconut whipped cream could also be good. 

  
Caramelized Pear and Honey Cream Tart

Serves 16, may be easily halved

Ingredients

• 1 package puff pastry
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 3 T sour cream
• 3 T honey
• 2-3 pears, sliced
• ½ cup dried cherries or cranberries
• ¼ cup brown sugar, optional

Directions 

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Thaw puff pastry and lay flat. Cut into four even squares. Bake on a parchment lined baking sheet for 14 minutes or until nice and golden. Caution, puff pastry may look baked while internal layers remain under baked and collapse.
3. While pastry is cooling, whip cream into soft peaks. Beat in sour cream and honey. Leave in refrigerate until ready to assemble.
4. In a large pan place cook sliced pears and dried cranberries or cherries over medium heat. Allow fruit to caramelize in their natural sugars or add bit of brown sugar. Once fruit is tender and nicely colored, set aside to cool.
5. To assemble, spoon honey cream on top of the puff pastry, dividing evenly, then top with fruit.
6. Each piece may be cut into 4 squares for serving

Currently trying to decide on Thanksgiving plans since C and I are hosting this year – perhaps one of these delicious beauties will end up on the menu. 🙂 

Both taste far better than these picture portray – I promise! 

Happy Monday! I’m so excited to share my weekend adventure with you all. After a month of being on the road traveling for work (more on eating heathy on the road later) I really wanted to get away, unplug, and rewind for a weekend. While I’ve been meaning to plan a solo trip again sometime, this weekend happened to be our anniversary as well so I convinced C to come along and spend time together.

And we went too…

  
Ojo Caliente! This was both our first times there and I booked a room and spa package to try and get the full effect. We arrived Friday evening, just a 2 hour drive from Albuquerque. Our room was a Pueblo Suite which included a kitchette and lovely back patio.    

 We also had access to a private community pool only open to guests staying in the suites. 
 

Upon arrival, I promptly ran to go get a massage – don’t normally get massages (other than muscle therapy related) but it was very relaxing. While I relaxed, C headed to grab seats at their wine bar where we also ordered a lighter dinner – I ordered a salad and pizza (yay, leftovers). After dinner we had a reservation for our own private pool – I didn’t get any pictures because it was really dark. We enjoyed a great view of the stars and had a crackling fireplace to light our soak.  

That next morning we had breakfast at the Artesian Restaurant onsite. I had a made-to-order omelet with spinach, turkey sausage, and mushrooms. Breakfast was then followed by another spa treatment. 
  
After the spa, I headed over to a yoga class in a yurt!

  
  
C, who does yoga stretching almost every day on his own, joined me for what was his first (and probably last) yoga class. 🙂 He’s a great sport. I still refuse to try mountain biking with him. 
  
For the afternoon, we headed in to Taos to check out the Halloween festivities. On the way we drove over the Rio Grande Gorge. 

   
   
Taos already has snow!  

We stopped first to do some wine tasting at the Black Mesa Winery. Thanks to some very generous tasting pours, we bought a few bottles to take home. 

  
We continued to walk through the plaza and find a place for dinner – Byzantium. Super cute inside with only 7 tables. I had the pork tenderloin with the lemon chicken sides – just couldn’t seem to want to make up my mind. 

  
Later that night we went for a last soak in the mineral pools. 

  
Sunday morning, thanks to the time change, we went out on an early morning hike before breakfast.

  
I tried to do a little healthier for breakfast with a pot of Earl Grey and oatmeal. 

   
 All in all it was a fantastic weekend!

  
Happy 3 Years with this guy!

  
Cheers!

Almost every October for the past 4 or 5 years I’ve had a race to train for – in three of those years it was training for the Urbanathlon in Chicago or New York. This year I had intended to complete the city trio and do San Francisco because it was a November race, but for whatever reason they canceled the SF version this year. Bummer. 

So instead of traveling, I stayed at home to run the Duke City Marathon with a relay team. It was my first time doing a relay run and it was so much fun!  For one, training was a lot better when meeting with the whole group or just a couple people.  And there was also more motivation because other people were counting on me. I was honored to be part of the team that first ran the same race 4 years ago. We named our team in honor of one of the orignal team runners who is completing her own marathon recovery after a car accident that took place earlier this year. 

Our race time was 3:52 and finished in 10th place in the female relay category.  Not too shabby for not doing much tempo training.   

 The day itself was a pretty perfect day. Cooler in the morning while I cheered on my team and then warmed up a bit by the time I ran the last leg of the race… I was pretty sweaty. It’s too bad they didn’t do pace times at the different handoff points. I am really interested to see what my pace actually was, but overall we all averaged under a 9 min mile. 
And some other fun shots of the day:

  
All done running!

 
Pre-race fuel from Rebel Donut. Thanks, Ashley! (They were mini and portion controled, right?)

  
The handoff.   

Racing to the finish line! Everyone else looks so fresh faced. 

All in all what a great race and I’m so thankful to C for waking up at 5am after getting in late the night before from a flight and driving me around to the different handoff locations. I will no longer hold it over his head that he missed my last race finish because they were still walking back from breakfast!  

Now to plan for another race?

I’ve been making Pumpkin Lasagna for almost 5 years and it literally changed my life. Ok, not literally, surely, but certainly made an impact on someone who has always loved pumpkin and winter squash. Yep, I’ll go out and say I loved pumpkin and pumpkin spiced foods before it was cool, before Starbucks did Pumpkin Spice and changed the season forever. I grew up in a pumpkin patch. My parent raised pumpkins for sale since I was a baby and are still selling today, only now it’s my little nephew “helping” in the patch instead of me. 

  
Pumpkins, squash, and gourds were a big part of my life and the smell of fallen leaves still reminds me of fall in Minnesota. I’m still baking and cooking with pumpkin whenever I can regardless of season, but I thought it best to share this delicious recipe while most everyone’s traditional pumpkin season lasted. 

This time around, C made the noodles from scratch, but I’ll keep the packaged in the recipe. I also added sage to try – sort of on the fence still… it’s good, but so is the original. 

  
Pumpkin Lasagna

Serves 9-12

Ingredients

• 1 pound 5 ounces (or 21 ounces) fresh mozzarella, divided (I used 12oz preshredded/bagged and 10oz fresh)
• 2 cups whole milk ricotta cheese
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut in a few pieces
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3-4 large fresh sage leaves, lightly chopped (optional)
• 3 cups pumpkin puree (or butternut squash puree)
• 3 tablespoons light brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup (preferably grade B)
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• pinch white pepper
• 1 (1 lb) box lasagna sheets

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Shred 12 ounces of mozzarella and mix with the ricotta in a large bowl. Set aside. You can also use bagged preshredded mozzarella for this portion – much quicker and easier. 
3. In a 2 quart pot, melt butter on low heat. Add garlic and sage and brown lightly. Stir in pumpkin, brown sugar, maple syrup, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Stir until it’s all warm. Remove from heat and set aside.
4. Smear a thin layer of pumpkin mixture on the bottom of a 9×13 glass baking dish.
5. Place 3 lasagna sheets across. Smooth a layer of ricotta/mozzarella on. Smooth a layer of pumpkin mixture on top. Repeat until you have 4-5 layers of pasta, cheese, pumpkin. (You will use 15 lasagna sheets in total so there may be extra sheets in the box.)
6. Slice the remaining 10 ounces of mozzarella. Arrange in one layer on top. A neat trick is to semi freeze the fresh mozzarella for 30 minutes before slicing – it will be a lot easier. 
7. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 40 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for another 5-10 minutes for light browning. Let it rest for 5 minutes before serving.

  
Enjoy!  Look at that creamy pumpkin cheesey goodness. 

*keeps nicely in the refrigerator and can be frozen.