Pumpkin Muffins

On Sunday, which is the perfect day for baking in my not so humble opinion, I had a craving for pumpkin muffins. Conveniently, I had some pumpkin in the fridge that was beginning to mold. What? I let pumpkin rot? I realize that the general impression you get from food bloggers is that pumpkin is akin to gold. While I do like pumpkin, I don't want to have unhealthy relations with it, nor do I want to bathe in the stuff. Really, it's one of the least tasty squashes out there. Have you eaten a spoonful of the puree? Did you have a reaction to it like a baby being forced to eat green pea puree? Perhaps it would taste better if I made puree from sugar pumpkins, but so far I stand firm in my opinion. Butternut and acorn squash both taste better. The only reason people have a creepy lovefest with it is because they saturate it with sugar, spices, and butter, of which I wholeheartedly approve.

Thus, it was beginning to mold.

I had bookmarked a pumpkin muffin recipe from Muffin Top a long time ago. Despite the relative ease, I hadn't gotten around to making them. Shame on me. The picture of the bright orange and the gorgeous crown captivated me. These were going to be good.

Here is the sugar mixed with the spices. I used a little more than 1 teaspoon of various spices like cinnamon, allspice, fresh nutmeg, cloves, and ginger. I think I used too much, because the end result was a dull brown instead of a vibrant orange. In the Muffin Top recipe, she states that she accidentally used an entire 15 ounce can of pumpkin, so maybe that helped with the color.

Quick breads are great because you just combine the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients separately, then mix them both together until a few streaks of flour remain.

The tops are sprinkled with cinnamon sugar, which gives them a nice crunch and extra spicy flavor.

Twenty-five to thirty minutes later, your kitchen smells like fall and you can dive right into a muffin or three. I was disappointed that mine weren't orange, so I'll have to figure out what went wrong there. But the flavor was amazing, and the muffins were so tender. I'm definitely going to make these again, though I'll add cranberries and pepita seeds next time.

If you made it this far into the post, here is the link to the recipe again so you don't have to scroll up.

60 Degrees.

The weather can't seem to make up its mind, but I'll take it. Pretty soon, I'll be doing nothing but complaining about the cold and wind. It made for a decent run today, too. Last week, I completed my scheduled 17 miles. I did alright with my two longer runs (and by "longer" I am talking about a mere 4.5 miles), though Sunday's run was challenging because I didn't eat that much prior to going out. Oops.

I worked out a pseudo schedule for the next 13 weeks, working up to 25 miles. It might seem a bit overly cautious to take 13 weeks to work up to 25, though I think taking my time will be better than jumping ahead of myself. Here's what I'm planning on for the next 4 weeks:

4 4.5 4.5 5	4 4.5 4 5.5	4 4.5 4.5 6	4 4.5 4 6.5
total: 18	total: 18	total: 19	total: 19

I don't know why it skipped down that far. Basically, I'm increasing in .5 to 1 mile increments, and I'm moving around the half miles to get longer distances. I feel that this will help me as I increase the duration of the runs without tiring out, and I'll feel more comfortable running more overall. Eventually, I'll be running 5 days a week, but 4 is working out well for now.

As for today, I pushed the pace a little because I seemed to be feeling it. This isn't really a great thing to do, but I'll run more slowly on Wednesday.

4.06 mi 37.44 09:17 pace

Mile 1 - 9:51:
I'm starting to feel more comfortable running again. During the first two weeks, I felt a little awkward and like I lost my running legs. I'm slowly getting back to where I was, which is a good sign. This is such a great time to be running because the temperature and weather caters to wusses like myself.

Mile 2 - 9:19:
Around here I kind of didn't know why I was running so fast. I didn't feel out of breath, but I figured I should have slowed down. However, since this is my shortest run this week, it worked out better this way.

Mile 3 - 9:07:
I purposely kept this mile above 8 so that I didn't stress myself out too much.

Mile 4 - 8:57:
Overall, this run pleases me. Next time, though, I'm going to try a more formal speed work approach, one that won't be as stressful as running 3 miles at a quick pace. I'm not really looking to do much speed stuff, though I don't want to run everything at the same pace. Maybe I'll throw in a few strides so that I pick the pace up just a bit.

Hope you guys are having a good start to your week.

Pork, Broccoli, and Green Bean Stir Fry

Remember the dead raccoon I mentioned? Luckily for you, it's still on the road and not in this stir fry.

Instead, I used pork. A lot of pork. It might have been two to three pounds, maybe four. I simply sliced some sort of pork roast into tiny slivers (well, I tried to, anyway). Marinating the meat helps flavor it and keeps it tender after cooking. To do this, I whisked corn starch, sesame oil, oyster sauce, and white pepper into egg whites and tossed it with the pork.

Also in the stir fry is farm fresh broccoli, really great green beans, and aromatics like onion, garlic, and ginger. The sauce is simply water, oyster sauce, corn starch, sesame oil, a pinch of salt and a little brown sugar, sriracha, and rice wine vinegar.

Farm fresh. The broccoli was sweet, crisp, and full of flavor. The green beans were from the local store, but purchased from local farmers.

Since stir fry is prepared over high heat (which is why a nonstick wok is the dumbest creation of all time), all your ingredients need to be assembled and placed close at hand. There is also a procedure:

1. Aromatics - First, you stir fry the aromatic ingredients, like the onion, garlic, and ginger.

2. Vegetables - Next, I add the vegetables, stir frying for about 30 seconds to 1 minute. My goal is to see a nice char on the vegetables.

3. Steaming (if the vegetables need it) - The vegetables won't be cooked thoroughly, and you don't want to continue stir frying or else they'll burn. To cook them, add 1/2 cup water and cover, allowing the steam to cook the vegetables completely. Toss it out into a large bowl, then cook the other vegetables the same way.

4. Meat - The meat is cooked until it's no longer pink. I cooked it in batches because there was so much meat.

5. Sauce -

After all the components are tossed together, they're added back to the wok along with the sauce. Once it comes to a boil it will begin to thicken. I let it boil for 30 seconds, then took the wok off the burner, letting the residual heat continue thickening the sauce.

I should also note that every process get salted just a little. This helps to flavor each portion. Add just a pinch so you don't over salt the stir fry. I like to keep a container of kosher salt mixed with white pepper for this.

That's how you make a stir fry. It's a very easy dinner to put together involving just a little prep and cooking. You can play around with vegetable and meat combinations, or use tofu instead. The sauce can be changed depending on what flavorings you add to it. So stay in and stir fry at home!

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Print This Recipe

Pork, Broccoli, and Green Bean Stir Fry
Recipe by Christina Provo

Serves 5-6

Ingredients -

2-3 pounds pork roast, sliced thinly into 2-inch pieces
2 egg whites, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons corn starch
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup oyster sauce
2 teaspoons corn starch
1 teaspoon sesame oil
2 teaspoons sriracha
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
pinch of ground white pepper
1 large onion, chopped into 1-inch pieces
4 cloves garlic, minced
2-inch knob of ginger, peeled and julienned
1 head broccoli, broken into florets with 1/2 inch stem
3/4 pound green beans, trimmed, and left whole or broken in half
Vegetable oil or light olive oil
Rice, for serving

Directions -

1. Place the pork in a medium bowl. Whisk together the egg whites, cornstarch oyster sauce, sesame oil, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Pour over the pork and toss until combined. Allow the pork to marinade for 15 minutes.


2. In 2 cup measuring cup, combine the water through the white pepper, whisking to dissolve the corn starch. Set aside.


3. Divide the onion, garlic, and ginger in half. Place a large bowl near the stove - this is where you'll put the ingredients that you've finished stir frying. Gather the remaining ingredients and place them nearby. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a wok over high heat. When smoking, add half of the onion, garlic, and ginger. Stir fry for 30 seconds, stirring with a metal spatula constantly. Add broccoli and sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Stir fry for 1-2 minutes, or until broccoli begins to char. Pour in 1/3 cup of water; cover, and steam for 1-2 minutes or until broccoli is bright green and tender when poked with a fork. Remove to bowl.


4. Repeat this process with the remaining onions, garlic, ginger, and green beans, adding more oil before stir frying.


5. Pour 2 tablespoons oil into the wok. Add half of the pork and let cook, without moving, for 30 seconds. Begin to stir fry, tossing the pork until no longer pink, about 1-2 minutes. Remove to the bowl, and repeat with the remaining pork. Toss everything in the bowl together.


6. Place the vegetables and pork back into the wok. Whisk the sauce and pour it in. Let it come to a boil and cook for 30 seconds, tossing the mixture. Turn off the heat and let the sauce bubble for 30 more seconds. Remove wok from heat. Serve stir fry with rice.