The NATO Summit is coming to a close today, and Chicago seemed to fare pretty well. We spent much of our weekend at home as planned, making exceptions for training runs and the chance to spend some time in the sunshine.
On Friday night that included a walk to Whole Foods, where we found grass-fed beef burgers on sale for $1.00 each! It was an offer too good to refuse, so we quickly scrapped our pizza plans and went with meaty, cheesy deliciousness.
We topped our burgers with scrambled eggs, mushrooms, Muenster cheese, spinach, ketchup and mustard. I know – scrambled eggs? Traditionally any sort of egg topping is fried, but we decided scrambled would taste better. I may be biased, but I think we were right.
All that was missing were the caramelized onions. Next time.
On Saturday night we made another dirt cheap Whole Foods feast: tilapia pasta.
We bought four tilapia filets on sale and threw them together with our Decio Pasta. This time it was the spinach basil garlic, and it paired perfectly with the cooked tilapia when seasoned with white wine and herb marinade. On the side we served a corn and edamame succotash, cooked in a bit of soy sauce. The two marinades complemented each other well. We’ll definitely make this dish again!
Speaking of white wine…
This Kendall-Jackson Vintner’s Reserve Riesling – given to us by Alex when we went to Tango Sur – was fantastic! A hint of sweet and very smooth. It paired well with our pasta and made for a nice after dinner treat, too. Thanks, Alex!
On Sunday we woke up bright and early for our 11-mile long run. The forecast predicted 90 degrees and humid, so we wanted to get out before it was too stifling.
Fortunately, we also picked a shady trail – otherwise I’m not sure we would have made it! It’s amazing to me how hot the sun feels while running. It makes it harder to breathe, harder to stay focused and harder to just…keep…going.
I was glad to have my running buddy with me. Bobby and I managed to eke it out in just under 10:00 min/mile pace, on track with our training as we now have less than three weeks until race day!
We’ve got 12 miles coming up this weekend. The distances are seeming more manageable, which is great. I just hope that race day will grace us with overcast skies and 50-60 degree temperatures.
Warm weather runners: how do you beat the heat and humidity?
Abrazos,
I absolutely LOVE the idea of scrambled eggs on your burger. My husband gets a burger at Red Robin with Fried Egg and bacon and he raves about it. I think I may need to try and make this for him.
Awesome! Let me know if you do!
I’ve never heard of scrambled eggs on a burger before…but it sounds kind of fantastic.
Having run through many Alabama summers, my best advice is to get up as early as possible. I know it’s simple, but it’s really the only way to beat the heat!
Thanks for the advice – it’s definitely the best way to avoid the sun and the heat!
You are ROCKING the runs! SO awesome 🙂 Glad you went for the burgers- they look fabulous. I will totally have to try the scrambled egg thing. Fried eggs is very popular down south. I adore running in the heat- I’m a weirdo 😉
Haha – I love that you enjoy the heat!
What wonderful weekend meals! I’ll cross my fingers for a cool race day! 🙂
Thanks, Emily!
Gahh I was totally at Whole Foods the day of the $1.00 sale and for some dumb reason I didn’t take advantage of it! Who knows why…
The idea of eggs on a burger sounds intriguing! Kind of like steak & eggs on bread. In other words, delicious!
Aw, I’m sure it will happen again! Mmm…steak and eggs on bread sounds amazing!
I’m from Texas, where we had 100 days of 100+ degree temps last summer! I just dealt with it I suppose…I do an outdoor boot camp, and it’s usually at 6 pm in the heat of the day! Drink a LOT of water, and pray the instructor sticks to the shade 🙂 I also hit up the gym a lot more during the summer. The AC definitely helps keep me at the gym, since I dread leaving and going back out into the heat!
I will be running in 100+ degree temps this weekend in Arizona. This is such great advice! May have to hit up the gym on days where I don’t wake up early enough. 🙂
Wow, those dinners sound so good! I just want to eat them off the screen 🙂
Haha – me too!! 🙂
if you’re looking for a low-key place to run the 12-miles this weekend please feel free to do so on long island. i can drive next to you and hand you water along the way…
..think about it…
HOLY SCRAMBLED EGGS on a burger? who are you bobby flay? you GENIUS. hahahaha xoxo
Um, that would be AMAZING. Let’s make that happen someday, please!!! And Bobby Flay? Oh you flatter me. 😉 P.S. I’m on Fifty Shades Freed…AH!
1) YES! I just picked up some Whole Foods treats as well! I always feel like I am pampering myself when I get meat from WF…it just tastes so much better!
(P.S. I’ll always remember our get -togethers there! Miss them!)
2) LOVE that you and Bobby cook so much great food together! That’s how I feel my living situation with the Boy is turning out! It is just so much more fun to cook for TWO people, with two people, clean with two people, etc! Love it.
3) love that neighborhood view! beautiful!
HUGS!
1) It really does taste better! I miss our hot bar dates so much!
2) I love reading about all the meals you and the Boy cook, too! It really is better when you’re cooking for/with someone else. Otherwise I get lazy!
3) It’s one of my favorite places in the city!
HUGS BACK! 🙂
I usually run in the morning when the sun isn’t too strong- that way even if it’s hot it doesn’t seem as bad. Although, I actually like running in the heat! Glad you guys made it through NATO weekend unscathed. 🙂
I’m thinking mornings are key, especially during the summer. Now if I could just get my butt out of bed…
Good job on the running! We had a big marathon here in Green Bay on Sunday and they called it after 2 hours due to the heat, much to many runners’ disappointment. Hope you were drinking plenty of water!
Oh no! I know someone who was running that race. I need to check in with him! Speaking of Green Bay…did you hear about Donald Driver? 🙂
I certainly did! In fact, that’s pretty much the only thing we’ve been hearing about the last few days…I hope people think Wisconsin is more awesome now. 🙂
Haha I can imagine! I hope so, too. 🙂
I was just in Chitown for a wedding…holy cow the security was insane! It was so fun to be in the city, though; I tried a vegan cupcake at Native Foods…SOOO good!
How awesome that you were here! Hope you had fun at the wedding. I need to try one of those cupcakes!
Jenn, you are doing such an AWESOME job with your half marathon training! I can’t be more proud of you and am living vicariously through you! You are going to have such a fun time running that race and will finish strong for sure!
I don’t know if you’re running with a camelbak or anything, but I like to add ice cubes to my camelbak bladder when I know it’s going to be hot/humid/dry outside. Totally helps me with the heat. I also make sure to have a cold bottle of Ultima (A recovery mix) in the fridge for when I get home. 🙂
Let me know if you have any more questions about your training! I’d love to help!
You are such a great motivator – I love it! I actually don’t have a Camelbak. That’s something I should definitely look into because thirst is one of my biggest problems when I’m running on hot days! I’ll have to check out Ultima, too. Thanks for the awesome tips, trainer! 🙂
Well done with the runs, Auntie Jenn! I continue to be super impressed. 🙂 Since I’ve never been a morning person, I actually like running at dusk (with a buddy, of course, since it gets a little dark).
Running at dusk is a lot of fun! It feels more peaceful somehow. 🙂
I hate running in the heat! My face gets bright red and starts to pulse. This being said, most of my races have been run in the heat (bad planning on my part?), so I’ve discovered some things that help: training in similar heat conditions, drinking lots of water, wet clothes and/or bags of ice if possible, wearing a hat, light/breathable clothing, etc. Also, no matter how tempting it may be, don’t pour a ton of water on yourself. I did that during my first half and I started to feel weighed down and chafe haha 🙂
That’s exactly what happens to me! I feel like my heart is beating everywhere. These tips are awesome, Caroline. Especially wearing a hat (something I always neglect) and not pouring on the water. Those are two things I will definitely be doing if race day promises to be a scorcher! Thanks!
That burger sounds yum. Did you chop the tilapia up before marinating and cooking it?
I did! We chopped them into smaller pieces so they would cook faster and be a better pasta topping. Then I added them to the pan with olive oil and added the marinade about halfway through!
So simple but I never thought about doing that — plus you get more tasty marinade that way!
Great job on finding those $1 burgers. I have always noticed that grass-fed beef seems to have less fat and more meat than corn-fed ones…how do you find them?
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