Friday Favorites – That Hill is 10.9 out of 5?!

Ok, so I’m trying to get back into the blogging world after the whole moving thing… I feel like I finally have the apartment in order!! (Don’t worry, I have the Moving Story Post Coming Soon!!)  I feel like I’m kind of a stranger in Blog Land now, so I’m trying to change that by making 30 minutes every day to get around to everyone’s blogs!! :)

Now… on to my Friday Favorites!!

I RAN!!!!

I went out exploring my new town, looking for parks and hills and such… you know… the things that runner’s tend to get so excited and worked up about… “OH! That hill is at least a 10.9% incline out of a possible 5%!! I think I’ll do hill repeats today!!”  haha… no?  You’ve never said or thought something like that? lol ;)  Anyways… I started out just thinking I’d walk, but I felt so energized and excited to be outside that I ended up running part of it!!  Total: 5 miles with 2 RUNNING MILES!!!  **no knee pain yet, knock on wood!**

Yeah, btw… there are basically NO hills where we moved!! It’s the complete opposite of where we lived before!! Flat as a Pancake!!

Banana Bread

I’ve been craving this stuff and finally made a loaf!! So good!

Recipe I used is here

Yoga!

I told you all that Me and Routine are buds… I get more accomplished when I am busy!!  So… I made my life more busy!! HA! I joined 4 FOUR Yoga Challenges on Instagram! I feel like joining these things every month is really helping me grow in my yoga practice! It keeps me motivated and inspired!!  Some of my favorite poses in January so far:

  

Clockwise starting at Top Left: Flying Grasshopper, Pincha Mayurasana
(Forearm Stand), Dancer Pose, Goddess (#batmanasana) lol ;)

Now it’s your turn!! Tell me what some of your Friday Favorites are?!! :)

Whoops, I Did it Again… (and Apple Chip Recipe)

There are just some days when your brain just isn’t working properly and you end up doing stupid stuff… Come on, you all can admit it… I know I’m not the only one!! ;)  Things that just don’t make sense and it makes you think “Gee, what in the world was I thinking?”  The answer to that question is usually “Apparently, you weren’t” (At least that’s how the conversation goes in my head)  lol ;) If I’m being honest, I have to admit that I happen to have quite a bit of those days/moments!

Things like…

- making a special trip into town (20 minutes away) to buy gas and a specific item only to get there and realize you forgot your wallet

- coming home from the grocery store to make that special meal for your better half only to find out that you forgot the main ingredient

- finishing a really good book and getting all excited to start the next book in the series and dig through the pile of books you got from the library finding that you have every other book in the series except that one

Or, how about…

- Almost slicing off your fingers on a mandolin slicer because you’re too stubborn and think it works better without the hand protector/food grip?

Yep… we’ve all been there… and if you tell me you haven’t been, you’re lying!! OR you really are that good at thinking things through and I need you to bottle some of that up and send it to me!! ;) Your turn to be honest!! What stupid stuff have you done or “shoulda thought that one through” moments have you had lately?

So… the reason I sliced my finger was because I was baking apple chips!! These things are so good that I kept going after I got injured! lol.. not to mention they make your whole house smell like apple goodness… perfect for a fall day! :)

So for your benefit and a little snack to curb your sweet cravings… Here’s the recipe:

~ Set the oven to 200*

~ Slice your apple or apples… Using a mandolin slicer is the easiest way to get thin even slices. I’ve cut them with a knife by hand before and it doesn’t work as well.  (Just make sure you use the food grip on the mandolin slicer!)  ;)  I have an OXO good grip slicer and I put it on setting 3. I got about 20 slices per apple.

~ Line a pan with parchment paper and put your apple slices side-by-side on the pan.  Make sure you don’t overlap them or stack them on top of each other because they wont dry out evenly.

~ (Optional) Mix about 1 tsp sugar and 1/8 tsp cinnamon and sprinkle on top of your apple slices before putting the pan in the oven.  You could also skip this step if your apple is of the sweeter variety or only use cinnamon and no sugar for a little healthier version.

~ Bake at 200* for an hour then, using tongs, flip the apples over and bake for another hour.  Make sure to watch that they don’t burn!

~ Take them out of the oven and let them cool. They will crisp up a little more while they cool down.

~ (Optional) Repeat entire process for more apple chips.

~ Chow down and enjoy!!