Decided to try my hand at making fresh bagels. Bagels are another one of those items if you like them can be expensive unless you get them on sale. Expensive is a relative term, I’m refering to the descrepencie in price between the cost to make them yourself and the cost of purchasing. Also I know there are no preservatives when I make it myself. For a first effort they turned out absolutly amazing. Here is is the recipie:

Homemade bagel recipe
4 cups bread flour
1 Tbls sugar
1 1/2 tsps salt
1 Tbls vegetable oil
2 tsps instant yeast
1-1/4- 1-1/2 cups of warm water.

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. You don’t have to worry about soaking the yeast when you use instant yeast (most yeast sold these days is instant yeast). The dough should feel stiff, but add the extra water if it’s really stiff, or you can’t get all the dry flour incorporated. Plop the dough down onto the counter, and knead for about ten minutes, or until the dough is uniform and smooth. Cut the dough into 8 equal sized balls, and let rest for 10-20 minutes.Pre heat your oven to 425. Cook 10 minutes a side.

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I love the feeling when you are in the gym and taking everything up a notch. Raising the weight you are lifting, an extra set here, extra exercise for a specific body part. Great when you superset things together and just push the fatigue and heart during a workout, turning the average workout into a combination cardio session. That was the type of workout I had today. Every exercise was a supersetted (if that’s a word) to something else, no rest and even stringing three exercises together at one point. I did arms, back, chest and abs during my lunch break. Exercises were hanging leg raises, decline crunches with weight, cable curls, overhead cable with the rope, one arm reverse cable pressdowns, dumbell bench press, cross cable and wide grip chins. Feel the burn! Finished that off with two slices of PizzaPizza cheese slices.

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Oh how I love my autumn runs. The weathe today is amazing, a bit more sun would just be the icing but it is a great day to run. I managed to get 3.5 miles in which was .5 more than I had planned but I wasn’t feeling that bad. I have to get this mileage back up if I hope to do Disney this year.

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 Well I finally got around to finishing my book on the GO Train today. Between the house, the girls, training for the marathon and the vertigo I have spent far to much time trying to finish this book but alas I’ve finished it. The fact that it took so long is absolutely not a reflection of the book. I had tried on one previous occasion to get through this book but was unable and frankly didn’t get into it the first time. I chose it the first time because of what you see under the title, “A NOVEL BY THE WRITER OF THE KITE RUNNER”. I was such a fan of the Kite Runner and the way it just jumped out at you. This book does the same but it does take a couple chapters to get going. The story is incredible and the imagery, the “view of Afghanistan” and the wars is excellent. I will have to admit there is a section near the end of the book that if you are a watcher of CNN you can’t help but envision the scene of a Christiane Amanpour episode when she takes you to the soccer stadium for the executions. Anyhow great work of fiction!

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I have been working very hard all weekend and Monday, Tuesday of this week trying to get some of the rooms that are most important ready in the new house. Obviously the living room and office are priority as well as the bedroom. I managed to get the living room done as well as the floor in the office completed. Here are some of the pics. They had a great deal on Manufactured Hardwood (Bamboo) flooring at Home Depot so had to take advantage of that. (Sorry not sure what is up with the photos’s — surely IPHONE – PC problem as they are fine on the computer till I upload them — ARRR figure it out soon)

12►

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Well the legs still aren’t fully recovered and really need to be running. Hoping that by this upcomming weekend I’ll be able to do 14 miles. We’ll just have to wait and see.

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I made this for the first time last night and have to say they were absolutely amazing. The photo is actual photo of my finished product. I made them with both whole wheat pasta and traditional white pasta. I didn’t really notice a difference so it is really up to you which one you want to use. Again this is all part of my avoiding meat and as I am someone who loves to cook this is a great experience so far of discovery. Also I need to mention I did make the pesto myself also and it is very easy if you have a food processor, I recommend making it as you know what’s in it that way… Recipe here for the Pesto.

Pesto Lasagna Rolls

Ingredients

12 Lasagna noodles
1 26-oz container Pasta sauce
2 cloves Garlic minced
1 15-oz container Ricotta cheese
1 10-oz package Frozen chopped spinach thawed, squeezed dry
1 3.5-oz container Prepared Pesto
1 Egg
1/2 cup Grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon Salt
Black Pepper freshly ground
1 cup mozzarella cheese Shredded

Preparation

Cook lasagna noodles according to package directions; drain. Preheat oven to 350. Spread 2 cups of the pasta sauce in the bottom of a greased 13 x 9 inch baking dish. Combine garlic, ricotta, spinach, pesto, egg, Parmesan, salt and pepper to taste in a bowl.
Place lasagna noodle on a clean kitchen towel; spread 1/4 cup of the ricotta mixture on the noodle. Roll noodle up; place seam side down in pan. Repeat with remaining noodles.
Pour remaining pasta sauce over noodles; sprinkle with mozzarella. Cover with foil and bake 20 minutes. Uncover; cook until cheese is golden brown, 10 to 15 minutes longer.

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Well I need a few things and think I might just have to cross the border to get some deals as our dollar is at par. It’s been some time since it’s been at par and the talk is that it is actually going to surpass the yankee dollar by up to .15 cents. See what happens. I also need to book my airline ticket to Florida for the race while it’s at parity.

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I was surfing for a good Veggie Burger recipe and figured I’d try this one as it apeard to resemble what I had at Kelsey’s the other day. I figured some Basmati rice with soy sause and corn would go well with it. Next time I think I’ll go with sweet potatoes. Regardless back to the burger. This was an amazing burger, moist and full of flavor. I cooked it in the stove this time but will certainly bbq it next time. It was raining out tonight and I’m still in the small house (moving in two days). Anyhow if you are looking for some good veggi burgers, these are the ones.

Ingredients

• 1 (16 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 green bell pepper, cut into 2 inch pieces
• 1/2 onion, cut into wedges
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon Thai chili sauce or hot sauce
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs

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I hate when I get to the gym and there is little parking to pick from. It’s not to say I didn’t find a parking spot it’s just discouraging to have such a big gym with such a little parking lot. Anyhow I had a great workout today although now my arms are worn right out and even typing is tiring. Did shoulders, arms, back and abs today. My favorite part is the feeling after when the shoulders and tricepts are very tight. Now to figure out how I’m going to get my 7 mile run in as my legs are still sore from barefoot running yesterday.

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