Mushroom Stroganoff

Did you know that yesterday was National Kale Day? You know how people say that Valentine's Day is an invention of the greeting card industry? I think National Kale Day is an invention of Whole Foods/the juicing industry. I did not celebrate. Kale is one of those things that everyone says is delicious and that they love. But I'm pretty sure they are all lying. Kale is not delicious. At best, it tastes really, really green. At worst, it tastes like something you should spit out and then eat a chocolate bar to get the taste out of your mouth. As you may have guessed, I don't eat a lot of kale. I think it's ok made into kale chips and it's fine sauteed with some garlic and served with poached eggs, but in general it is not my jam.

So when I went to the grocery store yesterday, I did not buy kale-- even though it was on sale because of National Kale Day. Instead I bought all the trappings to make mushroom stroganoff.

Kale-free is the way to be

Now, fair warning, this meal is not exactly a beauty. It does not even remotely photograph well. But it is delicious and you will not be sorry that you made it! I worked off of this recipe, but made a few adjustments that I think worked well. For instance: no one needs to ever eat a cup and a half of sour cream. No one. Also, sour cream is basically the same thing as plain yogurt, only plain yogurt is made from milk and therefore has way less calories. So, no need to buy sour cream when you have plain yogurt in the house. Boom! Knowledge! You're welcome...

Mushroom Stroganoff

Don't judge a recipe by its photo...

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons butter
1 large onion, chopped
3/4 pound mushrooms, sliced
1 1/2 cups water (for bullion cube)
1 cube vegetable bullion
1 1/4 cups plain yogurt
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Dash of soy sauce (optional)
Pinch of paprika (optional)
Pinch of dried parsley (optional, for garnish)
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
8 ounces dried egg noodles

Instructions:

Melt butter (you could also substitute olive oil) in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Add onion, and cook, stirring until softened. I also like to add a bit of salt and pepper while the onions cook. After onions have softened, turn the heat up to medium-high, and add sliced mushrooms. Cook until the mushrooms are browned. Remove to a bowl, and set aside.

In the same skillet, add the 1 1/2 cup water and one cube of bullion. Check the instructions on the bullion pack (mine says one cube makes 2 cups of stock, but I wasn't too concerned about skimping on the water). If you don't like bullion or just prefer to use regular vegetable stock, go right ahead. Just make sure it's a low sodium stock (not broth) without a lot of added salt. Stir the water and bullion together and make sure to stir in any browned bits off the bottom of the pan. Bring to a boil, and cook until the mixture has reduced by 1/3.

While you are waiting for your stock to boil and reduce, bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add egg noodles, and cook until al dente, about 7 minutes.

After your stock has reduces, and while your noodles are likely still cooking, reduce heat on the large skillet to low, and return the mushrooms and onion to the skillet.

Stir together the yogurt and flour in a separate container and then blend that mixture into the mushrooms. This prevents lumps. Then, continue cooking over low heat, just until the sauce thickens.

Are you keeping an eye on the noodles? They are probably done cooking by now. Go ahead and drain them.

Back to the sauce: stir in the dash of soy sauce, pinch of paprika, and a little more pepper.

Serve the sauce over cooked egg noodles and garnish with parsley. The green of the parsley helps your brain feel like you're eating a vegetable. That way you don't have to feel guilty for not participating in National Kale Day.

This makes about 4 servings worth of sauce. I tend to make the egg noodles one serving at a time and then reheat the sauce as needed. Also, I know this looks like a lot to do, but it really only takes 30 minutes tops. So get cookin'!

Weekend Recap: On Wednesday...

Yes, it's Wednesday. And yes, I am only now doing a weekend recap. I'm a little behind!

Anyway, this last weekend was wonderful because (a) the weather was gorgeous and (b) my mom came to visit from California. It was very nice to spend some time with her since we rarely see each other in person. Plus she took me shopping and wine tasting. What more is there to ask for?

Highlights from the weekend included:

Yummy!

Eating beignets and quiche while drinking Cafe Du Monde coffee at New Orleans PoBoy Shop in Dupont Circle. The perfect brunch to fuel our (fruitless) Nordstrom Rack visit. 

Happy 21!

Going out to dinner and having the waiter check our IDs. My mom joked that it was her 21st birthday and the waiter kept it up the whole meal. Our dessert came specially decorated in honor of her "birthday."

Bad wine. Pretty scenery.

[Get ready for some rants] We also went out to Leesburg, VA to go wine tasting and outlet shopping. It cost us $7 IN TOLLS!! Seriously??? I could get into San Francisco for $7 in tolls. Leesburg was nice and all, but it's not on par with freaking San Francisco!!! 

The outlets were great; the wine was abysmal. I have had good wine in Virginia, but I did not have it at the places we visited. I often find that the wine in Virginia is either way too sweet or way too watery. Now, I will admit that I am a bit of a wine snob but in my defense I grew up near California wine country and my father is a winemaker! I'm allowed to be a little biased. Plus, it's not Virginia's fault that its climate isn't ideal for wine. As my mother said, "No wonder people don't drink wine out here. If I thought wine tasted like this, I wouldn't drink it either." I will admit that people say Virginia makes "good moscato" (if there is such a thing), and that I find Virginia Cabernet Franc pretty delicious.

New pet.

Remember this guy? He was in my Real Simple magazine. When I was flipping through the magazine the first time I considered cutting him out and mounting him on some card stock as a Halloween decoration, but then I decided that that would be SUPER dorky. But then my mom was flipping through the magazine and was like "OMG, you should cut him out and have him as a Halloween decoration!" (Ok, so she didn't say OMG, but you get the gist of it) and the universe was clearly telling me that this cutout cat was meant to be in my life. He's adorable and he sits next to the candy corn. How much more festive can it get in my apartment?

It's Fall and I'm Lazy!

I am too lazy to write a second post this week. Sorry I'm not sorry. My mom is coming to visit and it's the weather is amazing! Blogging is great and all, but living in the real world is better.

From Runner's World

Rise and Shine! How to Wake Up Earlier

How are my September workouts going you ask? Well, differently than I originally planned. This is a normal occurrence for me. But before you judge too harshly, let me explain that I have been working out! Just not following the original plan.

If you'll recall, I set out to complete the following weekly workouts in September:

P90X Legs and Back
Yoga Today Blissful Hip Opener video
Yoga Today Balancing and Backbends video
Yoga Today Opening to Hanumanasana video (2 times)
FitSugar 10-minute Core Fusion video‭
FitSugar 10-minute Arm Workout video‭
FitSugar 10-minute Tush Toning Pilates video‭
Run (2 times)
Actual Pinterest Workout‭

But, as things turned out my work is now sponsoring a 10k Challenge that I wanted to join in on. Plus the weather has been amazing now that it has finally cooled off a bit. Finally, I keep saying that I want to become a morning person and I never follow through. So all of these things collided to create a perfect storm of early-morning-run inspiration!

Ignore my incredibly slow mile times.
I take a break to walk through a park halfway through my runs.
Plus, I stop at like a billion stop lights.
Plus, I'm slow.

So my new challenge? Get up "early" (early is 7am for me) and go running before work most week days. As you can see, I did great last week and this week is off to a good start!

Here are a couple of my tactics that I have been using to get motivated in the mornings and resist the urge to go back to bed:

Go Slow: My previous wake-up time was 8:00am and I wanted to work towards a wake-up time of 7:00am. I didn't start getting up early all at once though. I actually gave myself a whole week where I set my alarm for 7:30am. I didn't even work out or anything, I just got used to waking up a half hour earlier. This week was actually the hardest in my opinion because it was sooooo tempting to just snooze since I knew I wasn't required to actually do anything with my morning. (Confession: I gave into temptation twice). But then the next week I was ready to tackle the 7:00am wake-up and morning runs. I think easing myself into it was key.

Just Stand Up: I am guilty of snoozing the same as anyone else. But you know what? It's really hard to press the snooze button when your alarm is across the room. Not impossible (I've definitely stood up, pressed snooze, and gotten back in bed), but definitely difficult. I find that just standing up to go turn off my alarm and shuffle off to the bathroom wakes me up enough that I don't consider getting back in to bed. After all, those ten minute snoozes don't really make you feel more rested anyway.

Don't Let Sleepy-You Make Decisions: If I had to pick out an outfit or find my keys or do anything else besides put on clothes and get a cup of tea, my morning workout would be doomed. Be nice to sleep-you. And above all, don't let sleepy-you think or make decisions. Sleepy-you's judgement is clouded by sleep (duh) and decision-making is just one more thing that sleepy-you will refuse to do and use against early-rising-you, cheating you out of your perfect morning. "Find a sports bra? Decide which shirt to wear? Nah, you should probably just sleep." Lies! So lay out your clothes, ID, keys, and shoes the night before. Make a plan for what you are going to do in the morning the night before so that you don't have to think about it when you feel like a zombie.

Reward Yourself: My alarm rings at 7:00am and I am ready to walk out the door at 7:10am, but I don't. I enjoy a cup of tea or coffee first. I use the time to finish waking up and get a little hydration and caffeine in my system before starting off on my run. I'm out the door at 7:30am, which is still plenty of time for a quick run, and I'm awake enough to not trip over uneven pavement or run into traffic (win-win!). My morning tea is my absolute favorite part of my morning and it's definitely something I look forward to. Now, this seems to go against my previous advice since making coffee gives sleepy-you time to start thinking and making decisions, but at this point in my morning I have already been up enough (see: Just Stand Up) to not want to go back to sleep anymore. You can adjust accordingly, but as long as you plan on rewarding yourself for getting up early, I doubt it matters when you do it.

Remind Yourself Why: It can feel torturous to force myself to get up earlier than necessary. But then I go out on my run and I feel so exhilarated and happy and alive. The pay off for getting up early and feeling like a person who has their life together is worth the extra minutes of sleep. If and when you have moments of satisfaction in your morning routine, relish in how awesome they feel and tuck them away for the next morning when you really don't want to get out of bed.

Logan Circle at 7:45am. So pretty and peaceful.

So those are my tips for becoming a morning person. Let me be clear: I am still in the honeymoon stage of my morning-person-ness. I could look back on this post in a few months and not even recognize this responsible, early-riser. But I hope not.

Birchbox Review: At-Home Nail Salon

I'm not big on getting my nails done. I mean, it's nice every once in a while and if I'm going on vacation I'll get a gel manicure to hold me over, but in general I am not one of those fancy ladies who get their nails done once a week. I just can't justify spending money on something that I can easily do myself. And by now I have practiced enough that I feel like I get salon-caliber results with my nails.

And forget about pedicures. Mostly because (a) feet are gross and I don't want someone else to touch mine any more than I want to touch theirs and (b) I am so ticklish that I spend most of the pedicure willing myself not to kick the pedicurist(?) in the face with my tickle spasms. It's not a relaxing experience; however, it is sometimes necessary when my feet are particularly beat up.

Now is one of those times. Maybe it's the changing weather or something but heals are getting straight up nasty with dead skin. Also, my feet have inexplicably decided to each get blisters on the ball of each foot. I didn't even get new shoes.

So, facing the daunting task of actually having to touch my own feet (and really needing a manicure as well), I was pleasantly surprised when I received a few goodies in my recent Birchbox that related to the prettification of feet and hands.

So many fun things!

I received 5 items in my Birchbox but I'm only going to talk about three of them this post since that's what I used this evening. [Update: I used the amika Bombshell Blowout Spray and didn't love it-- it's just ok. I did like the Eyeko Black Magic Mascara though and would even consider ordering it again.]

VOESH New York Green Tea Pedicure Masque

Masque or mask?

Is a masque the same as a mask, just more French and expensive? Probably. I started with this foot mask/masque after removing my yucky old nail polish on my toes and doing a quick soak in the tub and scrub with the pumice stone. I was surprised by the clay-like color and texture of the product. I sort of assumed that it would be more gel-like. I also associate clay with drying out your skin (aka, pulling out impurities) and this product claimed to be moisturizing. I left it on for 3 minutes and then rinsed off (which took forever--this stuff is sticky).

Squeaky clean

Pros: Smells good, plenty of product in the sample

Cons: Hard to rinse off, it kind of burned on my freshly shaven legs

As mentioned previously, I am not a big mani/pedi person so the novelty of a foot mask/masque is sort of lost on me. I probably wouldn't order this on its own, but maybe if at-home pedicures are your thing you would feel differently.

Caudalie Hand and Nail Cream

Oh la la! I took this photo after painting my nails, but actually used it beforehand.

Next I used some of this lovely hand cream. I actually applied it to both my hands and feet because it says it's good for nails and my toenails are pretty gnarly. Plus, it smells like nectar and ambrosia grapefruit. 

Pros: Amazing smell, pretty package design, makes you feel French

Cons: A little greasy feeling (though that's kinda how natural lotion is)

The smell is really the selling point for me on this one. It feels great on my feet and hands, though perhaps a tad on the greasy side.

RUFFIAN Nail Lacquer in Delirium

Purple is not my usual nail color

Next up was the actual nail painting part of the evening. After a quick trim and file I got to work on two coats of this polish. I find that I can squeeze a few more days out of my manicures if I am diligent about doing thin coats and waiting a full two minutes in between each coat. And top coat is a must. I prefer Essie topcoat.

Pros: Easy to hold bottle top, I feel like it didn't smell as much as other nail polishes, good coverage with just two coats

Cons: Purple

This color is definitely not something I would have picked out for myself. But that is really the beauty of Birchbox. You get products that you would normally never buy yourself and get to try them out. So I am going to try out purple nail polish this week. My nails will be so hip and cool.

The color is way more intense in person

So those were some of my Birchbox goodies. What a relaxing way to spend an evening!

Life Lately

I know, I know. I haven't written a post in over a week. Sorry! But I'm back now. In my defense, I was busy spending time with my only number one blog reader, Chris. We had a very full four days while he was in DC and I pretty much didn't get much done blog-wise (or workout-wise) while he was here. I did do some marathon HGTV watching and bar/party hopping though and am actually pretty exhausted from my full weekend.

But let's do a quick recap of some things happening in my life lately:

Party time- Everyone is feeling very festive and I keep getting invited to house parties. Which is great, because these affairs tend to have free food and all I have to do in return is bring a cheap bottle of wine. It's like $12 for an entire evening. Done.

Clearly chambray and red are in.

Free Money- My dad sent me a very cryptic email asking me to send him my address in order to receive a special surprise (I moved a few months ago but I guess he still didn't have my new address). Then I got this in the mail a few days later! What a nice daddy! I used it to buy some new pants and shoes for work.

 

Cha-ching!

Cheesecake- Ok, I know that this blog is called Coastal Crunch, but I also have an affinity for the Midwest. My parents are both from Wisconsin and I still have a lots of family back there. I say the word "Wisconsin" with a slightly Great Lakes accent. I'm also a Packers fan. But don't take the term "fan" too much to heart. I can name like maybe two people on the team. However, I did go watch the 'Skins v. Packers game on Sunday and brought this cheesecake as a sort of tongue-in-cheek celebration of what I (correctly) predicted would be a Packers win. I used this recipe but made some substitutions (I used pre-made crust, added more lemon juice, and baked it for way less time since the pans were so shallow). Despite being surrounded by Washingtonians, this cake was very well received. I actually made these cakes last weekend. I shared one with my sister and froze the other for the game. I had been sneaking pieces all week and eating them with frozen raspberries (thawed) or chocolate chips on top. It was delicious, but I think my waistline is happier now that it's gone!

They tasted better than this photo looks.

Taco Salad- This is my go-to meal. I am eating it at least once a day for either lunch or dinner and will not stop until I have run out of ingredients. I pretty much always include beans and corn but this time I also added avocado, cucumber, and tomatoes. Finish it off with a salad dressing of half ranch (or caesar) and half barbecue sauce and a sprinkling of crushed tortilla chips. It's good enough to make someone like me (read: person who hates salad) eat salad once a day.

Roughage (that word looks weird spelled out)

Subscriptions- When I was in college I had it in my head that real adults received subscriptions. Real adults had enough disposable income to justify spending $20 a year on useless (but wonderful) magazines or $10 a month on makeup. Well, college me would be quite proud because I am now a person who gets subscriptions. In fact, I got my Birchbox and Real Simple today! I am excited to try out all my new goodies from Birchbox. Separate post to come! As for Real Simple, I haven't cracked it open quite yet but how cute is that kitty? I anticipate enjoying a nice magazine sesh later curled up in bed with a cup of tea.

I'm going to be so pretty and organized...

So that's what's been happening with me as of late. What are you up to?

Workout Recap... With Oatmeal!

As you may have guessed, Runner's World is my main source of inspiration for all things running related. Pinterest is a close second, but I sometimes find Pinterest a little vapid and ill-informed. I mean, doing "50 jumping jacks and a 30 second plank before every shower" or whatever is probably not going to give you a thigh gap. Also, what the heck is everyone obsessing over thigh gaps for? Some of these "thinspo/fitspo" girls look like they are starving. They have a thigh gap, yes, but they look too emaciated to enjoy the "thigh gap life."

I, for one, do not have a thigh gap and am not aiming to get one. Not only would I look way too thin with a thigh gap, the term thigh gap is ridiculous sounding.

Anyway, back to Runner's World. Mark Remy recently did an interview with Matthew Inman, creator of The Oatmeal. It's good and you should read it. And that, predictably, led me to read the six-part comic, The Terrible and Wonderful Reasons Why I Run Long Distances.

It's funny. Like, hilarious. I was laughing out load. My favorite part:

I was particularly drawn to Part 4, which talks about Vanity. Running isn't about vanity. You will probably not stick with running if you are doing it just to look good. I mean, have you seen my running outfits?

This comic was particularly inspiring this week as I did not come near as close to my weekly work out goal as I wanted. I missed a few workouts due mostly to laziness. Oh well. I'll just have to try again this week!

My mantra for this week will be drawn from The Oatmeal... Don't be a potato! Be a person!