Running Blonde

Easy Watercolor Cards

Kelly — Sat, 26 May 2012 22:25:16 +0000

These watercolor cards are easy to make and work for any occasion. I made one for my mom for Mother’s Day and then whipped up a few extra for thank you’s and “just because” notes. All you need is a watercolor palette and a brush.

Maple-Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Toasted Pecans {Recipe}

Kelly — Fri, 25 May 2012 12:47:57 +0000

Maple-Roasted Brussels Sprouts With Toasted Pecans

Adapted from the New York Times Vegan Thanksgiving

The brussels sprouts are roasted at a high heat to bring out the natural sugars and caramelize the edges, then tossed with toasty hazelnuts and a kick of maple syrup.

1 1/2 pounds brussels sprouts
1/4 cup olive oil
3/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon (or 10 grinds) black pepper
4 tablespoons maple syrup
1/2 cup toasted pecans, coarsely chopped (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

2. To prepare the brussels sprouts, remove any yellow or brown outer leaves, cut off the stems and cut in half.

3. Toss the brussels sprouts, pecans, olive oil, salt and pepper together. Once coated in oil, spread into a 9- by 13-inch baking dish or cooking sheet to roast. You may want to line your sheet tray with foil for easier cleanup. Place in oven.

4. Place in oven. After 15 minutes, stir with a spatula or large spoon to even out the browning. After 30 minutes, stir in the maple syrup.

5. Continue to roast the brussels sprouts for about 15 more minutes, or until they are fork tender (about 45 minutes total).

Yield: Serves 6.

Edamame and Kimchi Fried Rice {Recipe}

Kelly — Wed, 23 May 2012 12:35:44 +0000

This is a healthier version of that old take out staples. Edamame is one of my favorite healthy protein sources and kimchi is full of probiotics (lactobacilli).

Edamame and Kimchi Fried Rice

Adapted from Skinny Taste and Koko Cooks

Ingredients

6 cups of cooked brown rice

4 eggs, scrambled

2T peanut oil

1 large onion, diced

1 c. kimchi, diced (I just used the whole jar)

5 scallions, chopped, whites and greens separated

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 c. shredded carrots

2 c. shelled edamame

3T soy sauce

2T sesame oil

salt and pepper

1. Heat 1T peanut oil in large wok and cook the whisked eggs. Remove to plate.

2. Heat remaining tablespoon of peanut oil until almost smoking. Add onion, garlic, scallion whites and carrots. Cook about 60-90 seconds, careful not to burn.

3. Add kimchi and a little bit of kimchi liquid and stir fry another minute.

4. Add rice and stir fry another minute, breaking up clumps

5. Add cooked egg and edamame and cook while mixing well, 2-4 minutes.

6. Remove from heat and add sesame oil, soy sauce and scallion greens

7. If desired, top with a fried egg.

Putting the “Running” back in Running Blonde {Fitness}

Kelly — Mon, 21 May 2012 02:12:33 +0000

I originally started this blog as a way to keep a record of my races and workouts when I was neck deep in the triathlon and cycling scene four years ago. Loyal readers (Hi Dad!) may even remember when I had a race calendar and training plans posted on the site. The combination of med school and overtraining injuries sidelined me for the last two years, but I’ve been getting back into running in the past few months. This time, I’ve added mileage gradually and really focused on listening to my body. To really kick my butt into gear, I accepted an entry to the Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicago Half Marathon in July. Now that I have a reason to train – not embarrassing myself in front of my Brooks ID colleagues and friends – I’ve kicked my mileage up to about 35 miles a week. This is far more running in a week than I ever did when training for cycling or triathlons. So far the results are paying off. I feel fitter than I ever have.

As a “tune up” I signed up for the Follow the Child 5K put on by the Madison Montessori School District. I wanted the pressure of a race situation and the race fit my schedule. Needless to say, the event today was very low-key. There were no mile markers, no timing chips and no…. Regardless, I felt enough pressure to push myself so the mission was accomplished. Timing wise, I was close to a 5K PR, but the 90 degree heat made the race much slower than I had hoped. It was definitely a suffer fest!

I did manage to get first place overall (med and women) in the race. It was a family-focused run, but it still felt great to cross the finish line first in my nightlife yellow Brooks ID kit!

Repurposed Egg Carton Party Favors {DIY}

Kelly — Sun, 20 May 2012 12:26:33 +0000

A few weeks ago I hosted a “Ladies Who Brunch”. Brunch is one of my favorite meals to cook – and eat! Because it was close to Earth Day, I decided to make little party favor/place cards inspired by this post on One Charming Party.

Repurposed Egg Carton Party Favors

You will need:

Egg Carton

Uncooked Eggs

Egg cutter (optional), like this

Potting Soil

Baker’s Twine, like this

Seed packet of your choice (I used zinnias)

Card Stock, like this

Washi Tape, like this

Alphabet Stamps, like these

Embossing ink pad, like this

Embossing Powder, like this

Heat Gun, like this

1. Crack fresh eggs to create a bowl shape. You can also use an egg slicer for this part, which I don’t have so I just carefully picked off pieces of shell until the edges were fairly even. Empty egg and rinse clean

2. Fill shells with potting soil and a few seeds

3. Cut your egg carton to make a top and bottom to hold each egg

4. Place your potted egg shell gently into the carton

5. Use baker’s twine or pretty string to secure the carton

6. Emboss the name on a piece of cardstock cut into a flag shape, using the rubber alphabet stamps, embossing powder and heat gun. Cover the opposite side of the cardstock with washi tape, fold in half and loop through the baker’s twine.

Turtle Pretzel Bites {Recipe}

Kelly — Wed, 16 May 2012 01:13:48 +0000

This is the simplest recipe on the planet but it gets rave reviews every time I make it. It brings me back to childhood a little bit; this is the kind of thing that people would bring for birthday parties and sleepovers.

Turtle Pretzel Bites

You will need:

~Equal numbers of pretzels, rolos and pecans

Place pretzels on a parchment-paper lined cookie sheet.
Place one Rolo on each pretzel.
Bake in oven for 4 minutes at 300 degrees.
Smoosh a pecan on each melted rolo

Weekend in Chicago {Photos}

Kelly — Sun, 13 May 2012 19:58:21 +0000

Easter Bunny Cookies

Kelly — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 13:51:50 +0000

After the modest success of my last sugar cookie/royal icing attempt, I decided to try a project that was a little more ambitious. My friends and neighbors, Daniel and Nadia, were having a braai (South African BBQ) and I figured some fun cookies would be a great trade for some good grilled meat and whatever else was brought to pass.

Even though I really liked the recipe I used to make the bridal shower cookies, it was a very involved process with multiple refrigerations and weighing of ingredients than I have time or patience for. The following recipe, from The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle‘s blog, was just the thing. The recipe doesn’t need any chilling and has only basic ingredients.

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Sweet Sugarbelle’s Basic Sugar Cookies

Ingredients

227 grams unsalted butter
175 grams confectioner’s {icing} sugar
1 egg {room temperature}
1.5-3 teaspoons extract or emulsion {any flavor}
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
400-425 grams all-purpose flour

Instructions

Cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs and extract and mix well. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt, add to wet mixture little by little until well incorporated. Roll and cut cookies into desired shapes, dusting with flour as necessary. Bake cookies at 400 degrees for 7-8 minutes until tops are appear dry rather than shiny. Do not brown.
This recipe will produce two to two and a half dozen medium sized cookies.

Sweet Sugarbelle’s Royal Icing

Ingredients

4lbs {two bags} confectioner’s sugar
3/4 c. meringue powder
1 1/3-1 1/2 c. warm water
2-4 tbsp. oil-free extract or flavoring

Instructions

Add dry ingredients first.
Use your mixer’s whisk attachment to incorporate the sugar and meringue powder.
Add the extract to the water and slowly add it to the dry ingredients while mixing. At first the icing will be very liquid-like. Continue to mix it at medium-high speed until it is fluffy and stiff peaks form, about 7-10 minutes. Mixing times are approximate; stop mixing as soon as it becomes stiff. Over mixing and oil-containing extracts can keep the icing from setting up.

This recipe makes enough icing to decorate at least 9-10 dozen cookies. Royal icing will keep at least a month, in the fridge or at room temperature.

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Easter Bunny Cookies

1. I added a tiny bit of water and a few toothpicks of Wilton blue icing coloring to the above royal icing recipe to make it appropriate for outlining the cookie cutouts.

2. I then added a tiny bit more water to make the same colored icing appropriate for “flooding” the lined cookies. Be careful to do this a few drops at a time. Once the icing is too thin, the only fix is adding more icing! Let the flooded cookies set for at least an hour.

3. Next, I mixed up a batch of “15 second” white royal icing. If you’re new to royal icing, this means that when you run a knife through the icing, it takes 15 seconds for the mark to disappear. Tip: To keep your frosting from crusting in between steps, put a wet paper towel in the bottom of a cup!

4. Getting the right shape for the rabbit face was a learning process. In hindsight, I should have sketched out what I had in mind before I started, but I am not one for patience or planning.

5. The next step was the eyes and mouth. For this, I used Wilton black icing coloring and the same consistency as in step 1. I don’t have a very fine piping tip, so it was challenging to get all the details I wanted on the small cookie. I even experimented with using a toothpick to “draw” the face on. This was painstakingly slow and I abandoned the effort after only two cookies. If I could have a do-over, I would buy a finer piping tip, or save some money and use a plastic piping bag with just a tiny tip of it cut off. Let’s just say that my impatience, inexperience and lack of proper equipment ensured that every cookie was….well….unique.

6. The last step was a quick dab of pink for the nose and pink lines for the ears. I once again used the step 1 consistency.

The final result was cute, but not the least bit professional looking in. They still drew many compliments from the braii-goers. This is definitely a learning process.

I can’t wait to correct all my mistakes and incorporate what I’ve learned on my next batch!

Wedding Planning: Embossed Envelopes

Kelly — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 21:09:49 +0000

Even though our wedding is a year away, it’s never too early to get started on the DIY-ing, especially when you have lazy weekends and girlfriends willing to help out. Our first project was decorating the invitation envelopes. The envelopes were part of the paper supplies we purchased in Thailand. Because the envelopes are nice enough on their own, I chose a simple stamp to decorate one corner. To add some “pizazz”, we then embossed the design. With two people, it was quick work and took less than 30 minutes to do 50 envelopes.

Easy Embossed Envelopes

Supplies:

Envelopes
Heat gun, like this
Rubber stamp
Embossing ink, like this
Embossing powder, like these

1. Press rubber stamp onto embossing ink pad

2. Press rubber stamp onto your envelope

3. Sprinkle liberally with embossing powder

4. Tap off excess powder

5. Heat the stamped image until the powder changes to a shiny liquid and rises

6. Let cool

I ordered a personalized return address stamp on Etsy. I’ll post the finished product when the stamp comes and I can emboss the return address on it!

Lazy Morning

Kelly — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 14:43:26 +0000

Oh yeah, this is our backyard.