RECIPE: Sesame Chickpeas (or Sesame Chicken)

After posting about increasing my fiber yesterday, someone asked for the Sesame Chickpeas recipe. I didn't realize I never posted it before, so I figured I'd share it today. It's SO good! I always made this with chicken breasts until recently, so I'll write it out for both chickpeas and chicken, and that way you can make it how you like.

When making sauces like this (or General Tso's or Sweet & Sour, etc.) I like to use a mason jar. I put all of the ingredients inside, screw on the lid, and then shake it so everything mixes well. A lot of times, I'll prep the sauce in the morning and then when I want to cook, I don't have to take out all the ingredients; the sauce is ready.

If you like to have a lot of sauce so you can mix it into your rice, then you may want to double this sauce recipe.

Here is a printer-friendly version!

Sesame Chickpeas (or Chicken)

For the sauce:

2 Tbsp. soy sauce (I like tamari, but either is fine)
1 Tbsp. water
1-1/2 tsp. sesame oil
1-1/2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1-1/2 Tbsp. rice vinegar
1/2 tsp. fresh ginger (I buy this in a squeeze tube to keep in the fridge)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. sesame seeds
1 Tbsp. cornstarch

Other ingredients:

2 (15 oz) cans chickpeas OR 1 pound chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
2 tsp. cooking oil if using chicken
cooked rice or other grain for serving
4-5 green onions, sliced, for topping

Mix together all of the ingredients for the sauce and set aside.

If using chickpeas: Drain and rinse the chickpeas. Pour the chickpeas and sauce into a medium-size pot and heat over high heat just until it comes to a boil and thickens (there is no need to cook canned chickpeas--they will heat through with the sauce). Remove from heat and serve over rice; garnish with green onions.

If using chicken: Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat and add the chicken. Sauté until the chicken is browned and cooked through. Add the sauce and bring just to a boil so that the sauce thickens. Remove from heat and serve over rice; garnish with green onions.

Variations:

Steam some broccoli or other vegetables on the side and stir them into the chickpeas or chicken with sauce.

Use another sort of grain for serving. My favorite is barley, but I've also used quinoa.

If you like a light breading on the chicken (I haven't tried this on the chickpeas, so I'm not sure if that would work), put an egg and 2 Tbsp. cornstarch in a Ziploc bag and seal. Mash the egg and cornstarch together. Then add the chicken and and shake to coat. Then add to skillet as above.

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How Fiber Has Completely Changed My Habits

It's been a little over two months since I made my "New Year's Resolutions" (i.e. goals) for 2022, including increasing my fiber intake. I've always known that fiber is good for us, but I never really understood WHY. Most of what you hear about it is that it makes you feel full faster/longer. That wasn't a real explanation to me.

I don't remember much about what I learned about fiber from my nutrition courses in college, but I'm sure a lot of that info is completely outdated anyway. I definitely never heard of the "gut microbiome" until a few years ago. I won't get into all that because it would take several posts just to scratch the surface of it; but this article on "thebmj" (medical journal) explains a lot of it really well, with a ton of citations. This is just the opening paragraph, to get an general idea of what the microbiome is:

Anyway, rather than make extreme changes to my diet, I decided simply to focus on increasing my fiber intake, which helps produce a healthy microbiome. The recommended intake for women is 25+ grams per day and for men it's 38+ grams. It wasn't until after I started paying attention to my fiber that I realized I was probably not even getting half of what is recommended!

Again, I didn't want to do anything extreme--rather than change everything I was eating, I simply started by looking for similar foods to swap out or where I could add fiber to meals (using an extra can of beans in chili for example). At the time that I made this goal, I had no idea what a huge influence it would have on my daily diet.

Changes I've noticed since increasing my fiber to 20+ grams per day:

• I'll state the obvious first: I am very "regular" now. But best of all, I don't get bloated or get stomachaches for what seems like no reason. My digestive system feels much better!

• Cravings for junk food have reduced by about 95%. I'm not even exaggerating. It's not that I crave "healthy" foods; I don't really get cravings at all anymore. I'm not sure how long it took for me to notice this, but I would guess a couple of weeks after increasing my fiber.

• In order to get in more fiber, I started using my calories for high-fiber foods; because of that, I didn't spend those calories on junk food. This is part of what sparked my decision to start eating vegan about a month after increasing my fiber intake. There is no fiber in dairy or meat, so I wasn't eating much of those foods anyway. It wasn't hard at all to cut those out.

• I have found it SO much easier to put together a meal now. I usually start with some sort of sauce--I like Asian flavors, so a stir-fry sauce is probably my favorite (consisting of tamari/soy sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar, and things like garlic and ginger). Once I decide on a sauce, I just think of other things to add to it: rather than rice, I like to use barley (it has a lot more fiber and I like the texture) or quinoa (a complete protein); I add some sort of beans (garbanzo beans are my go-to for a stir-fry sauce); and then add whatever vegetables I have (peppers, cauliflower, broccoli, etc.). The combination may look very odd, but by adding a sauce to it, it tastes so good!

Here is a simple comparison of Sesame Chicken/Chickpeas using the same ingredients for the sauce. The sesame chicken with rice has 2.4 grams of fiber for the bowl shown:

Swap out the chicken for chickpeas, and it goes up to 9.7 grams of fiber:

Now, I replace the rice with barley, and it's up to 17.7 grams of fiber:

And finally, throw in a handful of broccoli, bringing the total to 19.2 grams!

See how it adds up quickly?

It's easy to make the dinner for Jerry and the kids, too (who still eat meat and dairy). I just make chicken or something on the side and they use the same sauce I do. They just add the sauce to chicken and rice or whatever they choose. That way I'm not cooking separate meals, just a few separate ingredients. I have a container of cooked barley in the fridge so I don't have to cook it all the time.

• When I *do* choose to eat something "junky", I'm much more sensitive to it now. I discovered this when I thought I would treat myself to dairy-free Haagen Dazs "ice cream". Despite the fact that it's vegan, there is nothing nutritious about it; but I have no plans to give up desserts if I want them. I only ate about 1/4 cup of it before my stomach started hurting. For probably the first time in my life, I put the lid back on the ice cream and put it in the freezer for another day.

• I have more energy and motivation. I can only assume this is from increasing my fiber and/or eating vegan. I have actually been typing out my blog posts in the morning, because I have more motivation; I've also been running in the mornings due to having more energy. I used to put off my runs until the evening.

• This may be completely unrelated--it's too soon to know--but my chronic pain has been getting better. I wasn't able to sleep on my stomach for a couple of years (it hurt my back and hips too much) but I am able to do that again. I had a very hard time moving in the mornings--even standing up from my bed hurt so badly I had to walk hunched over and stiff. Lately, I still feel sore and a bit stiff, but nothing like it was for the last couple of years. Again, it may be unrelated and maybe I'm just temporarily having a good break from the severe pain; I just really hope not!

• I have a much more positive outlook about several things, but mostly my health. I've been eating healthier than I ever have before and it's not because I feel like I "should". I actually *want* to. My dad had to have heart surgery last year and the surgeon told him afterward that if he had gone even another week or two, he would have had a "widow maker" heart attack.

Turning 40 in January was very hard on me mentally (I made my family promise not to even mention my birthday) because getting older is scary! I no longer have youth on my side as far as my health goes. Since increasing my fiber (which led to a much healthier diet) I feel like I'm being proactive in my own outcome.

Well, those are the major benefits I've noticed since increasing my fiber intake. I used to get probably 10 grams of fiber per day, and then after making the goal to increase that, I was eating 25+ grams. Now, I probably get 40-50 grams. I'll work on a post about things I eat and how I get in so much fiber.

Fiber is something that you don't hear people talking about much anymore. We hear "keto" and "protein" and "gluten" and other words like that regarding diet, but fiber seems to have been in the backseat for a while. I'm really glad I chose to focus on fiber--it completely changed my mentality and habits, and I'm shocked at the benefits I've noticed. I'm kind of excited to have my yearly physical and lipid profile to see how it compares to previous years!

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Vegan Recipe Review: Garlic & Chickpea Soup

I started doing this "Vegan Recipe Taste Test" series a couple of weeks ago to try out new recipes. Since I've been eating a vegan diet for several weeks now, I thought it would be fun to find vegan recipes either online or that were suggestions from readers and give them a try.

I was browsing Pinterest for some recipes when I came across this one for "Vegan Garlic & Chickpea Soup". I love soup--any time of year!--and this looked so good. I can never get enough garlic, either ;)

I love that this recipe doesn't use any ingredients that are hard to find or that are unfamiliar--it's a super simple recipe and I already had all of the ingredients at home: olive oil, fresh garlic, chickpeas, potatoes, vegetable broth, and dried herbs (paprika, rosemary, crushed red pepper, and thyme). You can find the recipe at The Clever Meal.

I didn't take any pictures as I was making this because it came together SO fast.

I like that the directions call for one of the cans of chickpeas to be puréed--it makes the soup thicker and heartier. I was hesitant about the rosemary, though--I've never been a big fan of rosemary. When I was in my early 20s, I made a rosemary focaccia bread and the recipe called for X amount of rosemary (I think it was 2-3 tablespoons). I didn't know any better and I used dried rosemary instead of fresh--which made it SO STRONG tasting that it wasn't even edible! Hahaha. Ever since then, I've been reluctant to put it in any dish.

When I try recipes (especially to write a review of it) I like to make it exactly as written, though, and then I might change things up the next time I make it. So, I included the rosemary in this soup and I didn't even decrease the amount.

The house smelled amazing while it was cooking! The recipe said it made three servings, but since it was my dinner and I was starving, I figured I'd divide it into two. Once I portioned it out, though, I realized the serving size was definitely on the generous side. I filled my bowl and it was slightly over 1/3 of the recipe. (If making this for a side dish or starter, I would consider this six servings.)

As soon as I tasted it, I was in love. It was SO GOOD. The rosemary was a pretty dominant flavor, but I have a new appreciation for it now--I don't think the soup would be as good without it. The soup has a decent kick to it, which I like; but if you don't like spicy food, then I would cut down on (or eliminate) the crushed red pepper.

I didn't add the olive oil as a garnish--I just didn't find it necessary. I had planned to make whole grain bread to serve with it, and of course I completely forgot. The soup was very filling, though--and it has 10 grams of fiber in 1/3 of the recipe!

The only change I'll make next time is to add more garlic. With the recipe being "Garlic & Chickpea Soup", I was expecting a lot of garlic flavor, but I didn't taste it. However, the soup was very flavorful and I will absolutely make it again! I think that this is something that meat-eaters would like as well. Jerry loved it; I would have had my kids taste it, but they weren't home.

I loved the simplicity of this and how fast it came together. Great recipe :)  You can find the recipe on The Clever Meal : Garlic & Chickpea Soup.

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Friday Night Photos

Well, that was short-lived (my excitement about running outside yesterday). My knee is killing me. I didn't hurt it when I was running--it felt totally normal--but later, I knelt* down to put clothes away and when I stood up, the usual crackle noises were replaced by a popping noise and I've been in terrible pain ever since. It's the same knee that I injured when I knelt down in the garage, my knee landing directly on top of a screwdriver.

*Edit: spelling

Anyway, I went grocery shopping this morning and my knee gave out on me a few times (which is totally embarrassing--just walking along and suddenly tripping over myself in the middle of the aisle). I can't straighten my leg and whenever I try to, there is a super sharp pain just under my kneecap. This has happened before and it usually goes away on its own within 24 hours or so, but this time feels different; my knee giving out like it did at the grocery store is new.

When I got home, I grabbed an ice pack from the freezer and sat with my legs up, ice pack on my knee. I was supposed to run 2.5 miles today, but I didn't even want to attempt it. I *really* hope this doesn't mess up my training and race plans! I'm going to rest it today and tomorrow, and then re-evaluate on Sunday for my long run.

Anyway, I'm feeling bummed about that. I don't have many photos from this past week, but here goes...

I saw this on Pinterest and took a screenshot to send to Jerry. I'm SUPER adamant that the toilet paper should hang going over rather than under. I don't know why it bothers me so much when it goes under, but I have this compulsion to change it. Jerry couldn't care less which way it goes, but once in a while when he replaces it he puts it the *wrong* way simply because he knows it drives me crazy  ;)

It really actually makes more sense to put it under; when Chick and Duck were kittens, they unrolled it a few times by swiping down with their paws.

If you're not into Wordle, this will mean nothing to you. But my whole day Tuesday I couldn't stop thinking about the stupid word. I usually work on the Wordle as soon as I wake up (about 4:30 AM). I never spend more than a few minutes on it. But I was completely stuck after my third attempt on Tuesday.

Usually, I start with a word that has at least 4 of the good ol' RSTLNE letters (from Wheel of Fortune). They are a good stepping stone to narrowing down the word. On Tuesday, however, I stepped outside the box a little and started with MEANT (no idea where that came from). Then after my third attempt, I was stuck:

I couldn't come up with a SINGLE WORD that would fit with what I had to work with. I didn't want to put in random letters (I never do that). I studied it for way too long. Took a break, went back to it. Still nothing. I even busted out a notebook and wrote down all the possibilities! (*Nerd alert*)

I started crossing off the ones that didn't look like they could be words, and then realized I'd crossed out everything, haha. Finally, I decided to try to first figure out what the other vowel was--it could only be U or another E (possibly a Y). I figured the best way to do it would be to pick a word that had both a U and two E's. I put stars next to those to narrow it down.

I figured I could try either RUPEE or REPUE (the other two just looked like they couldn't possibly be words). I chose to try RUPEE because I felt like the second letter should be a U.

And after all that, I *finally* got it right! I had never, ever heard the word RUPEE in my life. It didn't help that Jerry got it in four tries--he hates Wordle because he's not very good at it. (Clearly, I put WAY too much thought into it, where Jerry doesn't have the patience--or the desire--to.)

The next morning, I went back to my RSTLNE strategy and I guessed it in two! Then Jerry showed me his. Poor Jerry, hahaha. (Mine is on the left and Jerry's is on the right)

Okay, enough Wordle!

Duck needs almost constant stimulation at certain times of the day or he gets bored. One morning, I was super busy and I couldn't play fetch with him, so I decided to turn on YouTube and play a video for cats. Duck was all over it. The scene changed every 60 seconds.

Duck is super smart, though, and soon he started looking behind the TV to see where the things went when they went off the edge of the screen. He tried to hit them on the TV screen side while he moved his head from right to left, looking in front of and behind the TV.

I felt sorry for him because he obviously can't "catch" the thing he's trying to, so I turned it off. I don't like using the laser pointer for the same reason. I don't know if the cats care at all, but seeing Duck look totally confused made me feel bad enough to stop what I was working on and play fetch.

As I've said before, Duck will only play fetch with wadded up balls of paper--no cat toys or anything. They always wind up under the furniture, so we make more. And once in a while, I'll run the Swiffer under the couch to pull all of the paper balls out. Well, I pulled all of the paper balls out and was shocked to see how many there were!

It's so funny how normal it feels to walk around the house and see little balls of paper all over!

Here is one more picture of Duck. Jerry bought me the stuffed black cat for Valentine's Day. We named it Chuck (a combination of Chick and Duck). When I saw Duck sitting next to it, I had to get a picture.

Yesterday, Jerry and both of the kids were home all afternoon, so I took advantage and declared it a family board game afternoon. The kids like trivia games, so we did Trivial Pursuit and then this new game I forgot that I bought on clearance after Christmas. It's called Tension (Kids vs. Adults) and it was SUPER fun!

You play in teams (adults vs. kids) and on your turn, you are given a category and then you have to name as many items that fit into that category as you can before the timer runs out. There are 10 items on each list, and the other team checks them off as you throw words out. Here is an example list:

The other team tells you "Monopoly Properties" and flips the timer. Then you have to start naming Monopoly properties while they check them off (by pushing the little button next to the word). The adult cards are blue and the kids' cards are pink (I didn't think there was a huge difference in difficulty, though). Eventually, we just started shuffling through to find one that looked good for the other team.

Anyway, here is a (affiliate) link to the game on Amazon, if you're interested. We loved it.

I think doing the teams of two was a good number; if there were too many people (maybe eight or more) it would get confusing having four people shouting words while you're trying to check them off. I don't remember what got the kids cracking up (and then Jerry; I didn't get the joke, apparently!) but they were crying-laughing. I love that!

Again, I keep forgetting to post the random fact of the day. I'll end this with a couple that I thought were interesting:

And that's all I have! Going to nurse my knee tonight and hope that it feels better tomorrow. Have a great weekend!  xo

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Return to Running Recap : Week 40

I had an amazing outdoor run today! My first outdoor run since--probably November?--maybe January. Anyway, I'm going to jump right into my four run summaries so that I can keep this post as short as possible.

Week 2, Day 3 of Relay Training: Run 2.25 miles

I chose to do this on the treadmill, as I have been for all of my runs lately. Not only because of the cold, but because I like being able to read my book on the treadmill.

I started running at the usual "easy" speed of 5.0 mph and I felt really good--the belt felt like it was going too slow!--so I stopped my Garmin and the treadmill and reset for 5.1 mph. Not a huge jump, but slightly faster than I've been going. I started running again and it wasn't until I was about halfway through that I realized I forgot to start my Garmin. I wasn't about to do it over again, so I just started my Garmin and adjusted it later. I felt good throughout!

(The reason I started it over was because I have my Garmin set for splits every 12 minutes; the Garmin distance is slightly off when I run on the treadmill, so having the splits every 12 minutes when I run at 5.0 means they are 1-mile splits.)

Summary: 2.25 miles at 11:47/mile pace. Average heart rate: 147 bpm.

Week 2, Day 4 of Relay Training: Long run of 3 miles

I never used to think of three miles as a "long run", but the last run of the week is the longest and will keep getting longer throughout training. Still, 3 miles seemed so much farther than the 2.5 miles last week.

I didn't do 5.1 mph this time; I went back to 5.0. One thing I really miss about being faster is that my runs didn't take nearly as long. I used to run 3 miles in 27-28 minutes for an "easy" pace; that's a big difference from the 36 minutes I've been doing! I don't mind being a slow runner, I just wish it didn't take so much longer, haha. Nothing really notable about this run; I just read my book on the treadmill.

Summary: 2.5 miles at 12:00/mile pace. Average heart rate: 151 bpm.

Week 3, Day 1 of Relay Training: Speed Work Intervals

Speed work day! I actually was kind of looking forward to this workout because the intervals are so short and it makes the time fly by.

Run 10 minutes easy (I did 5.0 mph)
Run 1 minute hard (I did 7.0 mph) then walk 2 minutes - Repeat for a total of 6 intervals.
Run 5 minutes easy (I did 5.0 mph)

I debated whether to do 6.5 or 7.0 mph for my intervals. Two weeks prior, I did the same workout only with 4 intervals instead of 6. For that workout, I did 7.0 for the first interval and realized it was too hard, so I did 6.5 for the rest. I thought I'd see how 7.0 felt now.

The purpose of short intervals like this is to run HARD. As hard as you can run while still being able to finish. I didn't want to aim too low, so I aimed high and hoped I could do it.

After the first one, I was really surprised at how good I felt. I even debated going a little higher than 7.0, but then decided not to so that I could be sure to do 6 intervals at that speed. Surprisingly, I made it through all 6 and I still felt good enough that I probably could have gone faster.

Summary: 2.58 miles at average of 12:48/mi (including the walking).
        Intervals (6): 60 seconds each at 8:34/mi; 2 minutes walking at 20:00/mi in between.

Week 3, Day 2: Run 2.5 miles

The snow has melted and the sun was shining, so it looked relatively warm outside. I thought maybe I should try running outside. I looked at the weather app on my phone and saw that it was 24 degrees with a "real feel" temp of 12. Soooo... I almost changed my mind, but I remember once upon a time when I *always* ran outside and I loved the cold weather runs! The treadmill doesn't give me the same feel-good satisfaction that outdoor runs do, so I went ahead and got dressed in warm running clothes.

Since this was just a regular easy run, I decided to cover my Garmin with my multiple layers of shirts and not even glance at my pace. I know distances throughout the nearby neighborhoods like the back of my hand, so I managed to mentally map out a 2.5 mile route--and interestingly, I hit the 2.51-mile mark when I got back to my driveway! I didn't expect to get *that* close, but now I know a good 2.5 mile route, should I need it.

The second I started running, I felt AMAZING. Being outside in the cold air actually felt really good. I tried to run at a slow, comfortable pace and just ignore all thoughts. I listened to Sword & Scale (a true crime podcast) and the episode happened to be about a crime that took place just a couple of miles from where I used to live. When I heard the host say "Brownstown, Michigan", I was a little stunned--it's a teeny tiny little suburb; I even knew the neighborhood where it took place. Anyway, that was really interesting to me, so I was able to focus on the podcast and just ignore the fact that I was running.

A mile in, I stopped at my parents' house to feed the squirrels, but that only took a couple of minutes. Then I continued on, mentally making up my route as I went, adding up what I thought the total mileage was. When I got to my neighbors' house, I finally looked at my Garmin and saw that I was spot-on with the distance. I was *very* surprised to see my average pace was 11:09/mi!

I felt SO good about that run--not just the pace, but the way I felt when I was running in the cold air.

Summary: 2.52 miles at an 11:08/mile pace. Average heart rate: 150 bpm.

Overall, it was a good week! I didn't have any awful runs where I just feel miserable or anxious. And the outdoor run was the highlight :)

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Wednesday Weigh-In : Week 40

Holy cow, 40 weeks?! That's over nine months ago. The time has just flown by since I started counting calories and running again on May 24th. I'm so glad that I found the determination I'd been missing and decided that this was it--I needed to quit stalling and just get on with it or accept that I'll gain back every last pound I'd lost in 2009-2010.

I had really hoped to be back at my goal weight by now, but from the start, I knew that there isn't a finish line. Even after reaching my goal, I'm going to be doing the same things I'm doing now, so what does it matter when it happens? (Still, I'm excited to get there! Maybe by the one-year mark.)

Anyway, last week I'd had a big drop on the scale, so I wasn't too hopeful for this week. It's rare to have two big drops in a row. I was just thrilled to be back into the 140s and I wanted to stay there! So, this morning I wasn't surprised when I got on the scale...

I was at 148.0, which is down 0.6 from last week. I did all the same things this week that I did last week. I'm happy to see the scale moved down, though! Even baby steps are at least going in the right direction. I'm now down 49 pounds in 40 weeks.

I had to weigh in for DietBet today, too. My DietBet goal was 153.6, and my "official" weigh-in was 149.0 (it's a little higher than this one because I had to wear clothes). To win my six-month DietBet, I have to be at or below 147.1 on June 1st. It feels nice knowing I'm almost there already.

I wore the Cookie Monster shirt for my official weigh-in this morning and I couldn't remember the last time I wore it. I went through my 75 Hard pictures (remember I had to take a mirror selfie every day?) and found one from 2020 to compare it to. I hadn't even hit my highest weight yet (last May I was at 197.0 when I started losing). So this is about 183 pounds versus 148--I can't believe the difference!

I love seeing side-by-side comparison photos--sometimes when it feels like you're making no progress at all, you can see that's just not true. Even though it feels like only yesterday that I started losing this weight, I can see a huge difference. I'd like to try on something I wore at my heaviest last May (my heaviest since 2009!) and do a comparison.

My weigh-in pattern has been lose, lose, gain, lose, lose, gain, lose, lose, gain... since I've had two weeks of a loss on the scale, I have no idea what is in store for next week. It would be nice to break that pattern! But I'll just keep doing what I'm doing, because it's been working :)

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Transformation Tuesday #61

Happy Transformation Tuesday! I only have one reader transformation to share today, so I'll fill in the gap with a new progress picture of Eli. (Eli is my 16 year old son, if you're new here!)

I wrote before about how he has taken up weight lifting; he absolutely loves it! The recreation center at the school has a weight room, and it's only five minutes away. It's super convenient and I'm thrilled that he found something active that he can do year-round and he really enjoys. He has gotten addicted to PR's (personal records)--increasing the weight he lifts.

He started in August and was able to bench press 85 pounds and dead lift 185 pounds at the time. And now he's bench pressing 245 pounds and dead lifting 405 pounds! He's gained 8 pounds since he started, but his body fat is down 10%--it's amazing how much muscle he's built.

From the time he was little, I always told him that if he ever decides to lift weights, he's going to be a monster. He's always been a thick and very dense kid (meaning he was a lot heavier than he looked). I'm proud of him for working so hard on this!

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And here is a transformation from reader Letitia...

Finally redid my bathroom- been in my house for almost 7 years and have wanted to lighten up the bathroom and make it feel more spa like.  We repainted the dark paint and choose a light gray for the bead board and white on the upper wall.  I love the brightness of the bathroom now. 

- Letitia

Letitia, it looks amazing! I think it looked good even in the before picture, haha. But I really love the shade of gray you chose for the bead board. You're right--the color change definitely makes it look more spa-like. I love the little cabinet under the window, too! Thank you for sharing :)  - Katie

If any of you have a transformation to share, please do! As we're approaching spring, think of anything that needs spring cleaning and just make sure you take a before photo. I'd love some motivation for spring projects! To submit a transformation, just send me a before photo and an after photo at: katie (at) runsforcookies (dot) com. Make sure you include your name and a description of your transformation!

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I'll end with the random fact of the day...

I thought this sounded a little too vague to be an actual fact, so I looked it up. According to American Sleep Association:

This kind of makes me wonder how accurate the rest of the facts in the calendar are! Oh, well, at least I'm learning things by looking up the facts that interest me ;)

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A Few Recent Books I've Read (no spoilers)

I've been reading a lot lately, ever since I decided to quit trying to get through a book I wasn't interested in. It's a popular book ('Such a Quiet Place' by Megan Miranda), so I kept hoping it would get good. I made it through half of the book, but I just couldn't get interested in it and I basically quit reading because I just didn't feel like reading that book. I decided it's stupid to waste my time reading something that I'm not even enjoying--there are millions of books out there to read--so I just didn't finish.

I like to read on the treadmill; I just increase the font size on my Kindle a little and I can read it easily. I wish I had a tiny remote to turn the pages rather than tapping the screen, but it works just fine. And when I'm reading something really good, I have a much easier time talking myself into getting on the treadmill!

Anyway, I usually forget about books almost as soon as I'm done with them. I recently finished three, so I wanted to write down my (brief) thoughts about them before I forget.

'The Woman in Cabin 10' by Ruth Ware  (mystery/suspense/thriller)

This one is about a woman who goes on a business cruise ('cruise' is a loose term here; it's a very small ship that has about a dozen cabins). Her first night there, she thinks she hears a scream from the cabin next door and then something being dumped overboard; when she looks over the side, she believes it's a woman's body.

Naturally, she reports what she heard/saw, but nobody believes her because there wasn't anybody assigned to that cabin and nobody appears to be missing from the ship. She tries to piece together everything that happened that night so she can find the woman who was murdered.

I gave this book four stars. It definitely kept me guessing and each time I thought I was right, I discovered that it wasn't the answer. I didn't end up predicting the big twist, which is a good thing--I like it when I'm actually surprised. This one kept me turning pages quickly.

'My Darling Husband' by Kimberly Belle (mystery/suspense/thriller)

In late 2020 when I was walking five miles a day, I listened to a LOT of audiobooks. And I really liked Kimberly Belle--I listened to three of her books in a row: Stranger in the Lake, The Marriage Lie, and Dear Wife. So, I chose to read 'My Darling Husband' when I saw it was available in my library system.

It's about a well-known restaurant owner/celebrity chef that is in a ton of financial trouble. His wife doesn't know they are in debt or anything about all the people to which he owes money. His wife, 6-year old son, and 9-year old daughter are taken hostage inside of their home by a masked intruder. He is given instructions and does his best to carry them out. Meanwhile, his family is being held at gunpoint.

I actually started it yesterday and finished it today--I couldn't stop reading! I only gave it three stars, however, because I did predict the ending much earlier than I would have liked. And it was driving me crazy that the wife took so long to figure it out! It was written from the viewpoints of the husband, the wife, and the intruder; I love when books are written from multiple points of view.

'Final Girls' by Riley Sager (mystery/suspense/thriller)

I LOVED this book. I actually gave it five stars--which is extremely rare for me, especially for a suspense novel. I usually reserve five stars for books that are powerful enough to stick with me for a very long time. While this one wasn't "powerful" in that sense, I couldn't think of anything about it to criticize--I thought it was really good!

A "final girl" is basically a girl who avoids getting killed in the case of a mass murder--the only survivor when everyone around her is killed. The protagonist in 'Final Girls' is a "final girl"--ten years prior, she went to a cabin with her friends and everyone was killed, except for her. She was injured, but made it out alive, making her a "final girl". (As you may or may not know, I love slasher films/books, so this one sounded really good to me)

She connects with a couple of other final girls and is surprised when one of them shows up at her apartment, unannounced. They'd never met in person, but the timing wasn't coincidental; the third final girl in their trio recently took her own life. The protagonist invites the other girl to stay at her house so they can get to know each other, and as they learn more about what happened to their friend, things aren't adding up.

I'm not making this sound very interesting, but if I write too much, I'll give away possible spoilers. I put bits and pieces together throughout the book, but I couldn't figure out how everything worked until the "big twist" moment--and then all the pieces fit together so well. When I added it to Goodreads, I couldn't think of anything I'd change about the book, so I gave it five stars.

I just downloaded two books from the library that I'd had on hold: 'His & Hers' by Alice Feeney and 'Have You Seen Me?' by Kate White. 'His & Hers' was on hold for a while, so I'm going to start with that one.

First, though, I have to catch up on responsibilities since I spent half of yesterday and half of today reading! ;)

I keep forgetting to post the "random fact of the day"... here are the last two days'. I found both of these interesting!

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The One Where Jerry and I Had 'The Giggles'

I was going to put this on Friday Night Photos, but it was too long to explain the story there. The funniest thing happened recently and Jerry and I were cracking up as we talked about it.

We've had Amazon Prime forever, and when you go into the app on the TV to watch something, it asks who is watching. Each family member has their own account so you can keep tabs with your own shows or whatever.

There are little icons for each person and on our other channels (Netflix, etc.) we were able to personalize them to be cute little pictures or characters from shows or something like that. Last week, I went into the Amazon Prime app and our account icons were all at the default (just the outline of a head and shoulders). I decided to see if I could change them.

It only took a second to realize that we could personalize them, so I set new ones for each of us. For mine, I chose a cartoon hippo because it had a lot of rolls and I just thought it would be funny. The perfect one for me.

I set some for the rest of the family that I thought they'd like and I didn't think about it again until a couple of days later when I went into the app.

My icon was a cat--a super cute icon, but I was confused. I was SURE I had picked the hippo! I couldn't remember what I picked for the rest of the family but it looked theirs were different than what I would have chosen, so I just assumed that Amazon must rotate them or something. Or maybe I changed mine to a cat; but I was absolutely positive that I had chosen the hippo. So, I changed it back to the hippo.

The next night, Jerry and I sat down to watch a movie together and when he opened the app, I mentioned that I gave us all new icons instead of the old default ones. He looked really confused.

Jerry: "Why is yours a hippo--you chose the hippo?!"

Me: "Yeah, I thought it was funny. And perfect for me!"

Jerry: "I saw that on there and I changed it to a cat."

Me: "I was wondering why it was different! I knew I didn't pick the cat. Why did you change it? I liked the hippo; that's why I picked it."

Jerry: "I thought Amazon picked out icons for all of us and when I saw that they gave you a hippo, I felt bad for you. Of all the people to get a hippo, why you?! So I changed it to a cat."

When we realized what happened, we both started laughing so hard until we wheezed. I was really surprised he thought I'd be offended if Amazon gave me a hippo icon (that would have been awesome, too). But I thought it was cute that he changed it "before I saw it" so that I wouldn't feel bad. 

When we were watching the movie, I was on one end of the couch and Jerry on the other. I was kind of slouched on my back and had my legs straight out across the couch, with my calves going across his lap and my feet sticking up on the armrest next to him. (That's hard to describe.)

After we were cracking up, Jerry totally had the giggles. We'd be quiet for a second and then he'd start laughing again. I was looking at the movie, but I noticed that Jerry was laughing so hard that you couldn't even hear it (you know how when you laugh really hard, you kind of lose your breath?). I could just see his belly and shoulders shaking and I realized he was still laughing.

He looked over at me, and his laughter turned to confusion. He looked from my feet back to my face and then a realization hit him.

Jerry (wiping the laughter tears from his face): "I've been dying laughing and each time I try to stop, I see your feet bouncing up and down and I think it's you laughing again, so it gets me going again. I just realized it's because your legs are across my stomach and when I laugh, it makes your feet bounce up and down."

This got both of us cracking up again.

I'm sure that the description of this isn't nearly as funny as it was in our minds when it was happening--but it was hilarious at the time. I love that after being together for 23 years, we can still laugh until we can't breathe!

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Vegan Recipe Taste Test : Cauliflower Tacos

I have no idea what to call these posts--calling this a "vegan recipe experiment" didn't seem right last week. I'm not declaring myself vegan, but I am eating a vegan diet right now (and have been for the last five weeks), so I wanted to try out some new-to-me vegan recipes.

I'd prefer to make recipes that use everyday ingredients that I'm used to (if I have to google what it is, then I'm probably never going to buy it). So far, I've been using the same recipes I always use (like the ones I have on my Recipes page) but I alter a couple of ingredients to make it vegan. It's been really easy so far! And doing it this way makes it easy to cook for my family at the same time--I take out my portion before adding meat/dairy/etc for them.

I have literally never eaten so healthy in my life; and I didn't even intend for it to be that way! I have found that I don't really crave anything at all anymore, especially sweets. Out of the few times I did have a craving, it was gone within a few minutes. I think the only sweets-type thing I've had in the at least the last couple of weeks is a few Sour Patch Kids--I ate them and they weren't as good as I  remembered, so I didn't even eat a whole portion.

Anyway, Bronwyn (a blog reader) sent me a link to a vegan recipe she really likes: Cauliflower Tacos from Brand New Vegan. I LOVE cauliflower, so this interested me right away. I also liked that there weren't any "weird" ingredients.

I chose to top mine with homemade pico de gallo in lieu of cheese and sour cream (what I normally would have used). I LOVE this pico de gallo.

Here is how I make it:

1/2 cup chopped red onion
1-1/2 cups diced roma tomatoes
1 bunch cilantro leaves, chopped
1 jalapeño, minced
juice of 1 lime
salt to taste

Just mix it all up in a bowl just before serving (if you do it too far in advance, it gets very wilted-looking and liquidy). Roma tomatoes work best because it's easy to get rid of the seeds; I had some small sweet tomatoes at home already, so I just used those this time.

For the cauliflower tacos, you basically use very finely chopped cauliflower, mushrooms, and walnuts for the texture; then add the spices for taco flavor. (You can find the whole recipe on Brand New Vegan.)

I put the cauliflower, mushrooms, and walnuts in the food processor separately, although I probably could have put them all together. I prepped this in the morning to make it easier when I was cooking taco meat for the family, so I didn't combine the ingredients until later.

I love taco seasoning and I always make my own--here is the recipe for that--but I wanted to try this recipe with the spices as-listed. So I followed the recipe as it's written. I stirred all of the ingredients together until everything was coated with the spices. 

Then spread it all out on a waxed paper-lined baking sheet and put it in the oven. I set the timer and when it was time to pull it out, I immediately thought that I'd burned it. It looked really dark and and basically liked I'd cooked it until it was hard and crusty. Here is the before oven/after oven comparison:

When I moved it with a spoon, though, I was really surprised to find that it was soft and not at all burned. It was perfect! After stirring it together and putting it in a bowl, this is what it looked like:

(It wasn't nearly as dry as it looks!)

When I tasted it, I really liked it. The texture was great and the seasoning would have been great if there wasn't quite so much of it. I was a little overwhelmed with the amount of chili powder (and like I said, I love taco seasoning). I couldn't taste the individual ingredients, though--and I certainly wouldn't have guessed that it was cauliflower, mushrooms, and walnuts. It tasted like taco filling!

Jerry tried a spoonful of the filling and liked it (he agreed that the chili powder was a bit overwhelming, though). He said it wouldn't make any difference to him if I made that instead of meat (I'm not pushing him or the kids to eat vegan along with me; I just wanted them to taste it so they could see that vegan food doesn't have to be really "out there" weird food.

I made three hard tacos which used about half of the filling. For my tacos, I kept them simple: shell, filling, lettuce, and pico de gallo.

I know I'm probably the only person on the planet to say this, but I am NOT a fan of tacos. *gasp* By this, I just mean that I love the taste and texture of them, but they're impossible to eat without getting stuff everywhere. I prefer to make nachos or tostadas (or a taco bowl using rice instead of a shell) because you can get a bite of everything together without it falling in pieces. These were the first actual "tacos" I've had in probably a decade.

Before I announced that dinner was ready, I took two pieces of broken taco shells about the size of nachos and topped them with the cauliflower filling and then the ingredients that my kids like: lettuce, sour cream, cheese, and salsa. I gave one to each of the kids to try and tell me what they think (I didn't tell them the ingredients). Eli asked what it was, and I said it was a vegan taco filling. He made a face, but tried it anyway. His face relaxed as he chewed and he said, "Oh, it's actually not bad!" Noah said that he liked it, too.

Of course, they wanted to know what was in it. They were SHOCKED when I told them cauliflower, mushrooms, and walnuts. One food that my kids hate--and I mean absolutely *despise*--is mushrooms. They also don't like cauliflower. And I think the only time I've seen them eat walnuts is in cookies my dad makes. So I was very interested in their thoughts on this!

The looks on their faces were priceless when I told them the ingredients. They couldn't believe they just ate mushrooms, haha. I would never lie about what's in it in order to get them to eat it (it bothers me when people do that)--but I asked them to trust me. I told them that it's not meant to be a vegan "taco meat" but rather a taco filling.

I think that when meat eaters try something that is supposed to be a meat replica, they'll be disappointed. It's not meat, so it's not going to look, feel, or taste exactly like meat. It shouldn't be a direct comparison. If you think of it as a filling, it's just a different type of taco. There are beef tacos, chicken tacos, fish tacos... and this is just a vegan taco (or cauliflower taco, but you can't taste the cauliflower).

That said, I do think this is a good recipe for meat eaters to try. It doesn't have anything unusual in it and it tastes really good--like a taco! Even my mushroom- and cauliflower-hating boys liked it ;)

The only thing I'd do differently next time is to use less seasoning. I'll use my homemade seasoning and probably start with 1-1/2 to 2 tablespoons. I'll also use nachos or tostadas instead of taco shells, but the main thing I was looking to try here was the filling. I'm really glad I made this!

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