1000 Miles and New Favorite

My awesome ladies' group has challenged ourselves, as a group, to move (walk/run/swim/bike) 1000 miles in the month of August. It is just the kick in the pants I need to get a move on. Sunday morning I did my first semi-serious walk in ages.

First a tip for those who walk with dogs. Don't be mean, like us, and tell them they are going for a walk until the very nanosecond you are taking them out the door. We made the mistake of putting Millie's leash on her before we put on our shoes. There was some serious pouting over her pokey humans.

I had planned to walk in the neighborhood, but my husband suggested we walk on the trail that goes along the levee next to the Mighty Mississippi River. I do love that section of trail. My husband was going to do a little running also so it was nice be in such an open spot where I could see him most of the time.

My husband and Millie ran ahead. I met him coming back from his first turnaround. Then they walked with me for a little while.

I am pretty sure that sign doesn't apply to me, right? We figured it was still up from when there had been flooding a couple of weeks ago - part of the trail would definitely have been underwater.

Since I had last walked along the levee some huge solar panels have been installed.

There were about 10 or so of them. You get an idea of the size from my tiny husband and dog :)

It got hot pretty quickly, but we came prepared. We parked in the middle of the trail and walked out and back one way - stopped at the car for a drink - then out and back the other way.

It was such a pretty morning.

Millie and my husband went down closer to the river to check out all the debris from the flooding - so many uprooted trees. I will be honest, I stayed on the levee because I was super hot at this point and didn't want to have to climb back up the hill.

We will have to come back another time without Millie check out the museum and take a tour the lock and dam. Millie enjoyed quick stroll through the water feature, but we nixed her rolling around in the water. We were not prepared for a wet dog in the car.

By no means was it close to my best walking time, but I am just proud of getting out there and getting started. Also, I didn't stop my watch for our little breaks, so I am making myself feel better that my actual walking time was much faster :)

This weekend I may have discovered my new favorite food - Zucchini Pie. My in-laws have been on vacation for two weeks. When they come home from out of town I always try to make some food to have waiting for them at their house.  Since they were going to be home around midnight I decided on something they could eat for a super easy breakfast/brunch the next day. I have plenty of fresh zucchini to use up. This Zucchini Pie fit my requirements perfectly. The bad thing about making a pie for some is that it is hard to sneak a taste. It smelled so good and I could barely make myself leave it at their house. I came straight home and baked another one - hurray for zucchini abundance! (I also made them peach pie scones, but figured I wouldn't torture you all with those pictures.)

The recipe is super simple. I borrowed my sister's Pampered Chef slicer to make the thin zucchini slices in no time at all. I mixed the eggs, cheese, baking mix, etc. and threw it in the pan and into the oven. By the time I had eaten my first piece, I had given about a third of the pie to my sister. I wished I get that portion back,  but she had ended up eating her piece for dinner. The next morning I had a piece with some deliciously sweet and juicy peach slices. It was perfection.

The final piece is in my lunch for today with a side of cucumbers, peppers and another peach.  I figured the calories to be about 250-300 for 1/6 of the pie. Depending how you are eating it (main dish or side dish) it isn't a terrible number, but I am hoping I can make it lighter and keep all the deliciousness intact. I knew from the ingredients the recipe would need some tweaking to make it a viable every day option for me. The recipe calls for a 1/2 cup of oil - I thought it was a misprint at first. I think that is the first thing I will try to adjust! Any ideas why it would have so much and how reducing it would affect taste/texture? am sure I will be making it again soon so let the tweaking begin.

I loved how super easy it was to make and that the final product looked every bit as good as the pictures on the beautiful blog where I found it - The Seasoned Mom.

Overall, my weekend was kind of hit and miss on my eating, but much better than the chow-down-free-for-alls I have allowed in the past. I am very excited to get my walking game on again and I think our group challenge is perfect for me. My goal for this week is to get myself out of bed earlier and squeeze in some miles before work.

In completely unrelated news, if you are looking for a fun summer movie, I highly recommend Pixels. We saw it Friday night and it was the perfect date night for children of the 80's.