Halloween Fun

Happy Halloween, everyone! It kind of felt weird for Halloween to be on a Sunday for some reason. I can't put my finger on why that is, but oh well...

My husband and I slept in until 8:15 this morning. We usually get up at 5:45 a.m., so anything after 7 is a real treat for us. We realized that we had a lot to do. He teaches kindergarten and had to attend a Halloween play that the kids put on today. Before that, we went to his school to organize his desk (we are both mildly obsessed with office supplies, so this was a fun task for us).

Later in the afternoon, we went to our dear friends' home for a fun Halloween party. We had a great time visiting with our pals, passing out candy, watching football, and eating (lots of pizza and candy...yum!). It was great to change up our usual Sunday routine.

What did you do to celebrate Halloween?

For the love of Veggies

On a whim, I bought some brussels sprouts last weekend. I've never  prepared them before and I decided to roast them. I posted about this on facebook a few times, and received enough responses that I thought a blog post was in order.

I started with some raw brussels sprouts, broccoli, and cauliflower.

Then I drizzled some walnut olive oil & cinnamon pear balsamic vinegar on top...

We bought this oil & balsamic at a wonderful store called Old Town Oil (http://www.oldtownoil.com/). My husband and I first went there on a food tour in Chicago. They let you sample the oils & balsamics so that you can find a combo that works for you. Enough about the toppings...
I put the coated veggies on a pizza stone & baked them for about 15 minutes at 400 degrees.
I put together a quick salad and added the roasted veggies to the plate:

In this mix, I also had fresh spinach, strawberries, cocoa-dusted almonds, gruyere cheese slices, and a touch of roasted red pepper hummus. I added a slice of wheat bread and chowed down!

I think I'll toss in some apples the next time I roast veggies.

What are your favorite veggies & how do you like to prepare them?

A little hint about mint...

We took a trip to our local Farmers' Market on Saturday. Our dear friends have purchased a share of a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. They were out of town for the Chicago Marathon, so they told us that we could have this week's bounty.

We got some yummy peppers, garlic, mustard greens (which are surprisingly great raw), sweet potatoes, and a few sprigs of chocolate mint. I'm not usually a fan of mint, but it was either that or catnip. The catnip threw me for a loop, so we chose the mint. The farmer gave us lots of ideas of how to use the mint in desserts.

On Sunday, my nose was stuffy so we were researching natural decongestants. Somebody online said that they had used mint for this purpose. My ever-resourceful husband got the idea to make a hot drink with the mint. All he did was boil water and pour it into a cup over some mint leaves. The product was delicious! I took time to breathe in the steam before drinking it. I drank it like tea without any sweetner.

Now, of course, I'm hooked on this drink. I'll have to grow my own mint in a pot so that I can have unlimited cups of my new hot drink. Yum!

Is that a fake I.D.?

Yesterday, I was running errands around town. Towards the end of my journey, I decided to pick up a treat for my husband to enjoy after work. I've been on a bit of a "pumpkin kick" lately. I have stored up cans of it in my house. I've been hunting for pumpkin donuts and pumpkin beer. Doesn't pumpkin beer sound delicious? I was super excited about it.
I popped into one of our local liquor stores. I live in a college town, so there is no shortage of liquor stores (and pizza joints). One of the helpful employees helped me pick out a nice pumpkin beer. I took my purchase over to the register where another employee was waiting to take my money. There are signs all over the store warning those who are under 21 to  not even try to buy anything at this store. One sign even says that everyone gets asked for his/her I.D. and you may have to show more than one. To save the employee some trouble, I gave him my I.D. before he asked. We were making small talk as he was checking my I.D. He paused...looked at me...then looked at my I.D. again all with a very serious look on his face. I laughed and said "Do 31 year old people usually have fake I.Ds?". It was a dumb joke, but I was really surprised that this was taking so long. He then ran my I.D. through some machine that checks for the watermarks to prove authenticity.
Finally, he turned to me and gave me back my license. He said "I don't know how to say this nicely, but if you were any younger I probably wouldn't have accepted your I.D.". It turns out that the wonderful employees of the Indiana DMV did not print my driver's license properly. They cut off information at the bottom (such as the transaction number and my hair color). He compared my license with his to prove the error to me. He told me to take it back and complain since it looks like I made my license myself.
So, because the DMV in my city doesn't believe in doing quality checks, I'm walking around flashing a homemade-looking driver's license. I've been doing this for 2 years now. At least I now know, just in case I get refused service somewhere else.
By the way, the pumpkin beer was not great. I'm on a mission to find a better brand. I'm also still waiting for my local donut shop to start making pumpkin donuts.

5 weeks left...

I was at my doctor's office today so that she could work on my knee. As we were putting together a plan for me, I realized that my first 1/2 marathon is only 5 weeks away. Yikes! My husband and I plan to run the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon (http://monumentalmarathon.com/) on November 6, 2010. I'm trying to take good care of my knee so that I can post a respectable time. I'm so excited and I can hardly wait to run in Indy!

My Feelings about Fall...

I don't like "fall" (or autumn). I also dislike winter and spring. The only season I truly enjoy is summer. Today is the first day of fall and the high temperature will be in the 80's where I live. I love that! I really need to move to the desert so that I can enjoy blazing hot days with cold nights. I tend to be cold, so I don't like cold weather. Cold weather to me is anything under 75 degrees.

There are a few things that make fall more palatable:
Hooded sweatshirts
Chili and other Crock Pot meals
Hot apple cider
Indianapolis Colts Football (when they win games)

I will definitely rely on these things when the weather turns cold. Until then, I will enjoy the lingering summer weather.
What do you love about fall?

Viva Las Vegas!

My husband and I took a short trip this past weekend. As the title suggests, we went to fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada! Neither of us had ever been there before. The weather was awesome! It was over 100 degrees outside each day that we were there. We did a whirlwind tour of casinos. We managed to eat at the MGM Grand buffet without stuffing ourselves, view an acrobatic act at Circus Circus, see the dancing fountains at Bellagio, and play some Black Jack. On top of it all, we met up with a good friend and got plenty of sleep.
Overall, I give the trip high ratings. In fact, I had so much fun that I'm trying to convince my family to spend Thanksgiving in Las Vegas. I'm sure that will go over well and I can't wait to go back!