Fall 2015 Cook Book

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Whenever the weather cools off I find myself itching to try out new recipes. I think with football Sundays being in full-swing and holiday get togethers on the horizon (too soon?), I get inspired to experiment in the kitchen and share the results with friends! I've search around the internet for some culinary inspiration and I've put together an autumn collection of recipes that I hope try out this season. Make sure you click the links to get the full recipes and to check out the awesome bloggers that shared them!

Beverage: Bourbon & Maple Apple Cider
Recipe found on Freutcake

How delicious does this drink sound? The perfect blend of sweet apple & maple and the spiciness of bourbon. This is actually a beverage I could see being suitable throughout the winter as well. I'm a huge fan of hot cider when the temperature starts to drop so this sweet cocktail twist is something I can totally get on board with (even though I could only probably drink one at any one time)!

Appetizer: Fried Mac n' Cheese Bites
Recipe found on Thrifty Jinxy

I've been wanting to make these for months! A video of this recipe popped up on my Facebook feed and my mouth immediately started watering. This would be so perfect for a lazy Sunday watching football (or, if you're me, perfect for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the rest of eternity). I'm definitely going to bring this with me for one of the afternoon we spend watching RedZone and the Patriots at our friends' house!

Meal: Mediterranean Baked Sweet Potatoes
Recipe found on Minimalist Baker

Sweet potatoes are my jam. I love that the fall brings these babies back after a long summer without them. This recipe is a really interesting way to prepare and serve sweet potatoes as part of a dish and I am super into it. This recipe also seems fairly easy to prepare and serve, so I definitely see this being a simple dinner to throw together after a long day at work!

Dessert: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Recipe found on Foodie Crush

This is my favorite fall baked good! (I was going to say favorite fall dessert, but then I remembered that apple crisp à la mode is a thing. *droooool*) I had a colleague at BSU who always brought these into the office in the fall and I ate about a million every single time. I've never made them myself, but I would love to take a crack at this simple, 3-ingredient recipe! (And if it isn't as great as I remembered I'll look up one of the more extensive recipes you can find online.) Either way, I'm pumped!

Let me know if you have any fall recipes that you love in the comments - I'd love to try them out as well!

Race Review: Maine Marathon

Sunday I finished my third marathon - the Maine Marathon in Portland, ME! I was pretty nervous for this race (more nervous than I can ever remember being for any race) because my training this summer really didn't go to plan. The heat was really killing me in the migraine department, I was super exhausted from my demanding work schedule, transition to a new job, and moving to a new place, and my motivation was completely shot. Not to mention I hadn't raced any significantly long distance in almost a year (my last race was the Dean Dash 5K in April, and before that was the Wolf Hollow Half in November 2014, so it had been a while!) so in my mind, this was going to be a tough one.

The morning of the race was nice and chilly (a balmy 40 degrees) and my parents and I had the unfortunate task of waking up at 4AM to make the trek up to Portland. I'm so happy they decided to come along with me and volunteer for the race - it's rough when you're up that early by yourself! We arrived at the University of Southern Maine campus (my dad's alma mater!) around 6:20AM and met up with my friend Cassie and her friend Lauren, who were both running the half. I even got to see an former lacrosse teammate of mine - Erika (whose wedding Brett & I attended a few years ago) - before the race which was great! Cassie was kind enough to pick up my bib and swag bag the night before the race so I didn't have to worry about it on race day! Once we all pinned our bibs onto our clothes we headed over to the start.

The race itself kicked off with a bagpipe troupe and the National Anthem and at 7:45 on the dot, the horn for the start blared and all 4,000 marathoners, half-marathoners, and marathon relayers were off! The course was gorgeous and took us through Portland, Falmouth, and Yarmouth, with beautiful views of the coast nearly the entire way. There were water stops every 1.5 miles (any long-distance runner will tell you this is amazing), bands and spectators nearly the entire way, and because it was an out-and-back route, I was around other runners the whole time! I guess the third time is a charm because after a not-so-awesome first marathon and a very small second marathon, this race impressed me to no end. All of the volunteers were great, everyone running the race was super friendly, and I had a great time the whole way through.

Surprisingly, I felt great for virtually the entire race. I was nervous about how my legs and feet would feel because my training had been fairly painful throughout the entire summer. Once I upped my mileage I realized that it was my sneakers that needed an upgrade, so I bought myself a pair of Brooks Launch 2s which have been so amazing! I largely attribute these sneakers for the fact I felt so great throughout this race. It wasn't until about mile 23 that my legs really started to feel it (mostly my right quad/IT band) and I started taking a few walking breaks - though I only had to take 3 breaks in comparison to the NH Marathon where I started to take walking breaks starting at mile 18.

Once I hit mile 25, I felt great. Not so great physically, but mentally. I could feel the finish line approaching and my parents - who volunteered to help out with medals & space blankets - were waiting to cheer me on as I approached the finish line. It was so great to receive my medal from my mom and my space blanket from my dad and to get giant hugs from both of them - now definitely one of my absolute favorite moments in my racing career. :)

I ended up DESTROYING my marathon PR by 26:22. How, I have no idea. When I was around mile 10 or so I noticed that I was on track to PR but I didn't want to jinx myself, but I continued to stay on track to PR and in the later miles this was a huge motivator to keep running. By how much I would PR I wasn't entirely sure, but I kept this in the back of my mind for more than half of the race, and once I saw the time as I crossed the finish line I knew I had smashed it. This is extremely motivating to keep running marathons. Knowing that I can come across the finish line closer to 5 hours than  6 hours gets me so pumped up. I hope that next time I can run a sub-5 hour marathon and keep improving on my time from then on out!

Overall, the Maine Marathon was awesome. I'm so happy that I chose this race as my third marathon. I feel so motivated to continue to pursue my marathon goals and train for the next 26.2 on my list. More details on that to follow! ;)

Book Review: The Help

This month I finally got my hands on The Help by Kathryn Stocket. You guys. This book is so good. I know I'm tardy to the party on this book, but I loved it so much. Per usual, I chose to wait until I read the book before I watched the movie, and of course, life started to get in the way and it took me forever to finally pick it up and read it. I'm kicking myself that it took me this long to finally read this story. For me, this book was one of those that I would be itching to get back to when I was working or doing other things. There were multiple times while driving that I was wishing I lived within the radius of public transportation so I could spend my commute reading!

Anywho, this book is set in the mid-1960's in Jackson, Mississippi and each chapter is told from the perspective of one of three women - Aibileen Clark, Minny Jackson, and Eugenia Phelan, also known as Miss Skeeter. Aibileen and Minny are both black maids that work for affluent white housewives, and Skeeter - though not a housewife herself is a part of the housewife inner circle - is a recent graduate of Ole Miss who has a dream of becoming a writer. Disgusted and frustrated with the way she sees her friends treat their maids, she approaches Aibileen with the idea to interview her and a handful of other maids to tell their stories of what it's like to work for the white women they spent their lives raising - something that could spell serious trouble for all involved.

Stocket does a fantastic job in giving all three narrators unique voices and stories, and the way that she was able to weave each of these characters as well as the supporting characters into each others' lives was remarkable. Each perspective had it's own unique draw to it that I found myself thirsting to know how each character was reacting to each situation. When I was wrapping up a Miss Skeeter chapter, I was dying to hear Minny's side of the story. When Minny's chapter ended, I so wanted to know what Aibileen was thinking. The way this book was written made you want more, and I loved each page of it.

If you haven't read this book, I HIGHLY encourage that you do. I watched the film with Brett immediately after finishing this story and I would say that the movie did a great job in sticking to the story line, but the book provides with so much rich detail that you miss out on in the film. This book quickly shot into being one of my favorites and I'm so happy that I finally took the time to read it for the book club!

What did you think of The Help (either the book or the film)?

Let me know in the comments!