About thefasteryoupedal

Hi! I'm Liz and I am a 38 year old teacher from Las Cruces, New Mexico. I'm also a fan of mountain biking, road biking, running, and traveling. I'm always up to try something new! This blog is for me to share ideas and also to receive new ideas!

Trying Out Pinterest Recipes

Posted on July 19, 2012 by thefasteryoupedal

Like I said in my previous post, my sister showed me some great recipes on Pinterest that I really wanted to try out. I really want to take advantage of the fact that I am not working right now, so I am teaching myself how to cook and bake. It is so fun!

These “Zucchini Chips” were great! All you have to do is put some olive oil on them, and add a mixture of panko bread crumbs, salt and pepper, and a little parmesan cheese. Bake for 22 minutes on 400 degrees…and deliciousness! The link is found here:

http://bakehouse.squarespace.com/home/2011/7/20/zucchini-parmesan-crisps.html

Then I decided to try another recipe that caught my eye because of my HUGE love for chinese food. I don’t live in a town that has PF Changs or Panda Express, so I had to bring the sweet and sour chicken to my kitchen.

It is VERY filling! So you don’t need much of it, which is a good thing. It is around 300 calories per serving so if you portion it right, then it’s not too bad. You don’t have to use all the cornstarch and egg too so it helps to lighten it up. It’s a little messy to prepare, but I give it two thumbs up! Here is the link:

http://life-as-a-lofthouse.blogspot.com/2010/09/baked-sweet-and-sour-chicken-with-fried.html

I don’t know about you guys, but this month brings a lot of entertainment to the household! The Tour De France has been played non stop, especially when there is a certain biking addicted husband in the house. We’re not gonna lie, it’s not as exciting this year since Cadel Evans fell back and Contador (the villain) is not here this year, but it’s been fun watching the drama unfold. Go Wiggins!

“I sure do like this Tour De France! Now buy me a bike…”

We can’t be too sad when it ends because the Olympics thankfully will take over! 🙂

Question: Are you keeping up on the Tour this year? Any opinions about this year’s tour?

Teaching Mountain Biking

Posted on July 17, 2012 by thefasteryoupedal

I’m used to teaching middle school science to a bunch of a teenagers that have no interest in it, but changing over to being a mountain bike instructor is a totally different experience. I feel like I am inadequate when it comes to teaching it. My new guinea pig was my sister this weekend. We went to the local bike shop and rented a bike for twenty bucks.

First of all, the bike was extremely heavy, so I felt really bad for my sister, but she was such a trooper. The main thing I would suggest before taking a rookie out is to make sure they have the right gear. Helmet is a must, gloves are nice, and I highly recommend finding spandex for them. I forget how it took me days for my rear end to feel better after riding a mountain bike (especially if you are riding a hard tail).

I took her on a basic trail that was a three-mile loop and then we upped the next ride to a six-mile loop. Mike and I discuss the difference between road and mountain miles and we claim that you take mountain miles and double it to make it similar to each other.

For example, a 9 mile mountain bike ride is the same as an 18 mile road ride. You have to do more miles in road to feel the burn of a 9 mile mountain bike ride.

Anyway, she did great. I kept her in her middle gears and then when we hit uphill, had her switch down to the lower gears, but never touched the big ring. I didn’t use my big ring until I started racing. (In case you don’t know, the big ring is when you have a harder gear to pedal in and it takes a lot of leg work).

I’m so proud of my sister for trying out biking. She did a great job and put forth a great effort. She told me she wants to do it again when she comes back! 🙂 Such a trooper!

Making A List of Recipes

Posted on July 17, 2012 by thefasteryoupedal

My sister came into town this weekend and showed me her awesome Pinterest board with all these recipes that I want to try! I need to get on there and just go crazy!

I am on a countdown and only have three weeks until I have to go back to work so I feel like I have to hurry and learn some more healthy ways to cook so that when things start to go crazy, then it’s already instilled in me.

So Albertson’s has a deal for $5.99 a pound crab legs. Just in case you want to know. Crab legs for dinner is a real treat. Take advantage of any deals right now!

Since I am on the 7 Day Carb Cycle diet (which I have lost three pounds already!), I have been working on the High Carb days to eat things that are sugar-free. I went on www.cooks.com and typed in the “Sugar Free Banana Bread” and it tasted great.

Here is the recipe courtesy of www.cooks.com.

Here is the link: http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,164,149191-253198,00.html.

Grilled Onion and Pulled Pork Sandwiches

Posted on July 11, 2012 by thefasteryoupedal

The day before yesterday I threw some pork and beef broth in my crock pot again. It’s such an easy recipe that I find myself making it every couple of weeks! This time I threw about six or seven whole roasted green chiles into the mix and it broke up in the crock pot perfectly. When I went to put the pork in a Tupperware, both the chiles and the pork broke up perfectly.

Last night we got home a little late for our bike ride, so I wanted to make something quick. I heated up the pork and added bbq sauce to it. I grilled onions in a pan of garlic olive oil and waited until they were caramelized. I put the onions inside a hot dog bun and then added the pork. It was good stuff!

I thought I was going to have a replay of the night before when it came to the storms we keep getting during my riding time. This was the direction on the trail I wanted to head last night.

Thankfully, the weather did opposite. This is what the trail looked like by the time I finished!

How awesome is that??

7 Day Carb Cycle

Posted on July 10, 2012 by thefasteryoupedal

I really love the show Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition. It is so inspiring to see the people who are extremely overweight turn their lives around to make things healthier. I think Chris Powell is an excellent trainer and would love to have a job like that one day (after I get my health regimen in order).

I was searching on Amazon for nutrition books and found “The 7 Day Carb Cycle” by Chris Powell. I immediately downloaded and started reading it to give it a try. I only have about four more weeks until I am back at work, so I thought I would try it out and get into a healthy routine before then.

Yesterday was a Low Carb day and the process goes like this:

Sunday: Rest

Monday: Low Carb

Tuesday: High Carb

Wednesday: Low Carb

Thursday: High Carb

Friday: Low Carb

Saturday: High Carb

A high carb day doesn’t mean you eat as many cookies as possible. It’s more healthy carbs alongside protein. Fruits are a really good idea for those days. On the low carb day, it is mainly protein and veggies the whole day. After our 4th of July, I was going through withdrawal on sugar yesterday.

Most people on the reviews said that they lost two pounds the first week. It received four out of five stars on Amazon, so I figure I’ll be a guinea pig and try it out. I’ll keep you posted!

It helps if you cut up your veggies and fruits and leave them accessible in the fridge.

Barney is moping around the house today because of all the rain. Any time we attempt to walk outside, he gets so excited. I can understand since I get a little ancy too when it comes to rainy days. I was a little disappointed yesterday on my attempt to road ride and this beauty of a storm paid a visit.

P.S. Lists are so awesome. Then you don’t have to try to remember everything. When I spoke in church on Sunday, I was talking about how I write lists all the time. A lot of girls came up to me afterwards talking about their lists and their husbands told me that their wives are obsessed with them. Ha ha. Must be a girl thing.

Question: Are you a list person? If so, what are some ideas on where to keep your lists?

Green Chile Steak Salad

Posted on July 10, 2012 by thefasteryoupedal

I love to order a steak salad at a restaurant. Mainly because you still get the “meat” of your dinner, but you don’t feel too heavy afterwards. I was surprised the first time I tried one that the two of them would even exist together.

I took a small steak fillet (uncooked) and took a meat mallet to it to make it as thin as possible. I sliced the meat into thin strips and laid them out on my cutting board. I took 1 piece of roasted green chile and placed it on top and rolled them together like a sleeping bag. I was out of toothpicks to hold it together, so I put them in a baking pan and they seemed to stay still.

I then turned the oven to broil and placed them in the oven for 10-12 minutes until fully cooked. I pre-made a caesar salad and added the steak at the end. Good stuff. It always taste really good after a workout.

All you need is: steak, green chiles, and caesar salad!

Phew!

Posted on July 9, 2012 by thefasteryoupedal

What a crazy week! I am so behind on my blogging that I pretty much am going to slam a bunch of pictures on here to show all that we did. Unfortunately, I didn’t get my pictures developed for our “Rafting the Rio” day, so stay tuned for a future post on that.

We did manage to get some mountain biking on the Dona Ana’s and it was awesome! I finally conquered one of the three stops that I always have to walk on Cathedral. Mark my words, I will make it up Cathedral this week. I am planning on conquering it on Tuesday night. Believe it or not, it is one of my yearly goals on my “Vision Board” blog post.

I was able to make it over this part of the course (that looks pretty easy, but I always have to clip out here because of all the jagged rocks.

It was really fun to have a lot of family around. I am the youngest of three, so it was neat to have a huge crew of brothers and sisters around. We ate dinner at a local Las Cruces mexican restaurant called “Si Senors” that makes excellent new mexican dishes drizzled in green chile or red chile sauce.

Barney was having a blast hanging out with his cousins. Since he is the youngest, he was a little more agile and faster with getting the frisbee. As you can tell, the other dogs did not appreciate that too much.

We were able to get a family photo of the whole clan together, which is a rare sight.

That’s a lot of people in one place for a week of shenanigans!

I’ll leave you with my favorite photo of the week:

Question: How often are you able to get ALL of your family members together? Do you have any traditions when you do get together?

Fourth of July Madness

Posted on July 9, 2012 by thefasteryoupedal

Sorry for the delay on my Fourth of July post. Let’s just say it was a VERY hectic week last week. My dad and his wife came into town, all ten children of my husband’s family were in town, we had to speak in church, I had to teach Sunday School, and try to figure out how to time everything just right.

Fourth of July Madness is a good way to title this post. Let me tease you with a picture of Debbie (Mike’s oldest sister) and a burnt hole in her t-shirt.

We’ll get to that in a minute. 🙂 Like I said before, we don’t mess around when it comes to Fourth of July. There is always a steak barbeque, games played, some fireworks watching, and the best part is the lighting of our own fireworks.

After our big meal, we took off to a local middle school to watch the city’s firework display, which was not a disappointment. While we were waiting, the boys had to banter back and forth making fun of people, which led to some major laughs.

Then we headed back to the house where a “brother” (who will remain nameless due to the fact that he may or may not have picked up illegal fireworks) had brought some fireworks from out of state to have some good old fun with the family. The audience was amused by the awesomeness.

Then it happened. One of the fireworks was placed on the ground a safe distance from the crowd. Little did we know, it was placed the wrong direction.

The fireworks then turned on the audience and lasted for about three minutes hitting walls, roofs, chairs, and people. Even though I am laughing about it now, it was pretty scary. Thankfully, Debbie only got a “holey” shirt in the process.

No animals or people were harmed in the process. After the “incident”, we were very careful about the placement of the fireworks and it ended up being a pretty good show.

Question: Do you have any “incidents” with fireworks where it went a little too wrong?

I was reading in San Diego where the fireworks all went off in the first 15 seconds because of a computer glitch….how sad!

Rain Riding

Posted on July 6, 2012 by thefasteryoupedal

It’s July in Las Cruces, which means the end of the drought season. Even though we are in desperate need of water, it is really nice to not have the rain (for selfish reasons) to worry about when needing to go biking. So many times we have been caught in rain storms or even lightning storms where we’ve had to ride for our lives to get out of them.

Yesterday we went over to the Dona Ana’s to have a “family ride”. When we showed up, there was the usual downpour. We had to sit it out for about ten to fifteen minutes. Thank goodness we are obsessed with the games Draw Something and Scramble so Mike kept himself occupied.

When I see rain like this, I admit I question whether or not I want to ride. I really hate getting wet and I REALLY hate wind. In all of our races, we have experienced snow, rain, lightning, and dust storms. It’s cool afterwards to have the war stories but it ain’t pretty.

Thankfully I have a husband who pushes me to go even if I don’t really feel like it. Yesterday was pretty crappy weather, but I had a lot of fun hanging out with these kids.

Question: How bad does the weather have to be for you to run or ride? Do you have any close calls with weather?

Nostalgic

Posted on July 3, 2012 by thefasteryoupedal

Considering the whole country is under a heat wave right now, it probably isn’t a shock that its hotter than Hades here. Therefore, I have to sacrifice my sleep and start getting up early to work out. Yesterday, I woke up at 6 to go to the gym and felt like I had a ton of bricks strapped to my body. I have a deep respect for anyone who gets up early every day for the gym. Now that I am out of “school mode”, it’s hard!!

Today Mike and I accidentally slept in til 9 and wanted to make it out on a morning ride.

We take three-mile laps through a local neighborhood. I made a goal of five laps today and felt pretty good. One note though, make sure you get “fitted” to your bike. I haven’t done it yet and I can tell I am learning some bad habits and the position on my seat is definitely not right. I could have ridden longer, but because of that problem I had to stop. Not to mention the sweltering temperatures.

O.K. so I am majorly nostalgic and you can blame it on my family. 🙂 I am always trying to bring back stories and memories from the past. Mike says our Disney World nostalgia is a little much in our family, but I am perfectly content with it. We HAVE to go to Disney at least once a year, even if we have to go to Disneyland. I love it.

Well, I swindled Mike into being nostalgic too. Warped Tour came to Las Cruces and one of our favorite bands, New Found Glory, was going to be in it. Mike used to go back in the olden days with his friends to the Tour and I used to go to NFG concerts with my friends back in Vegas when they would be at the House of Blues. The memories are so awesome.

Seeing that we are in our thirties now, we felt a little sheepish for going, since the median age for the Tour is about fifteen.

It was so fun! I was made fun of for going, but it was really cool to hear them again and the best part was being in the crowd and experiencing the chaos of concerts. I’m not gonna lie I got a little scared when the crowd surfing started, but thankfully my tall husband took care of that. Mike’s brother Jared was there too and was brave to surf the crowds.