Weekend Happenings + My Favorite Fall Food List.

The track and I hung out on Saturday morning.  My sister ended up not being able to run anymore so I decided I would go to a track and see how some 200m repeats felt.  Over the years of training I get used to getting faster or doing more intervals with each track workout that I do but with pregnancy, just the opposite happens.  Each time I go, my body wants to do less and to go slower but that’s just how this chapter of running goes and the reward at the end of this training cycle is my favorite.

8 x 200m intervals (at around an 8:00 pace) in the middle of my run with 200m recovery jogs.   I had the track to myself (with the football team’s music blaring from the weight room next to it ha) and got to catch the sunrise as I was running around in circles.

My current favorite thing bout the track is how flat it is… zero uphill feels very nice.

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Brooke had another soccer game Saturday morning.  She has found her favorite position on the field… midfield.   She absolutely loves it and was sad when the game was over because she wanted to keep playing.

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Skye can’t wait until next year when she gets to start playing too.

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The best part of the weekend had to be Saturday night.  Andrew had the idea to give his girls a spa night so he picked up face masks and ice cream.

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He gave us all foot massages too and Skye was a big fan.

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Our Sunday was very low-key but we did get out for a walk in our pajamas in the morning.  By the time Sunday rolls around, I am more than ready for all of the couch time and getting ready for the week ahead.

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I absolutely love how different seasons REQUIRE different foods and treats at our house as part of our traditions.  I wanted to share with you some of my favorite things that we eat this time of year and I’d love to hear yours too.

*My mom’s Taco soup is just a must each fall!

*Of course the candy corn and peanut mix happens each year.  I prefer 2-3 peanuts per candy corn.  Try it and let me know what you think.

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*To go along with the above perfection, Megan D makes the BEST COOKIES EVER.   The full recipe is in THIS post.

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*I love making mini pumpkin waffles with this waffle iron.  The kids love it so much too.

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*Hot chocolate happens all of the time during this time of year.  We always make ours with milk and Stephen’s hot cocoa.  It is a Utah brand but let me know if your Costco/Target sells it too, if not you can get it HERE on Amazon.  I drink a lot of hot chocolate and I think it is by far the best.

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*This was a major hit at our house the other day when we had a bunch of cousins over… Apple Nachos.  On one side I drizzled melted peanut butter and chocolate and on the other side I did caramel and chocolate with chocolate chips and marshmallows over all of them.  They were gone in about 84 seconds.   We also love making these caramel apples.

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*This Chicken Cream Cheese Chili (recipe from Megan and we make it a few times a month because we love it so much) with cornbread.

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*This potato and onion chowder is so beyond good ( Great Harvest has these fun pumpkin bowls and breadsticks to serve it with).

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*Basically anything and everything at Trader Joe’s that is fall/Halloween themed… their Pumpkin Bread mix is my #1 favorite and I always add chocolate chips.

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*Anything and everything involving peaches… angel food cake with fresh peaches has to be my favorite though.  You also must make my mom’s Apple Crisp Recipe.

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*This sugar cookie recipe is a tradition of ours and we use leaf or Halloween cookie cutters for them!  These are my favorite pumpkin chocolate chip cookies too.

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What are some meals/treats that remind you of this time of year?

Candy corn… delicious or no?  

What improvements have you seen with your running this year?  Or have you felt like you’ve lost fitness this year or maintained?

What was the best part about your weekend?

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27 comments

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YESSSSSSSSS peanut butter candy corn cookies!!! This weekend, I officially switched by bike fuel from Swedish Fish to candy corn for the next 2-3 months.

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It’s going to be a wonderful 2-3 months of rides for you… ENJOY!! Hope you are having a great day so far friend!

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Best part of the weekend: a 2.5 mile family hike in the town woods near us called Sherborn Town Forest. The woods are maintained by the town trust and it is just so beautiful and quiet on the trails! Next weekend, we will take a longer loop (And pack more snacks) that has some beautiful overlooks.

I need to make a trip to Trader Joe’s…all those fall goodies are making me hungry!

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Nadya! That hike sounds absolutely perfect and I bet your little girl loved it so much. Wish we could join you next weekend for the hike. Go to TJ’s asap… everything is so good right now!

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You posted a while ago about the pumpkin cinnamon chip cookies. Holy cow – SO good! I need to go and hunt down cinnamon chips so I can make them again. I was obsessed with them last year. Another go to for me in the fall in pumpkin bread (obviously) and apple crisp. Even just a fresh from the orchard apple with peanut butter works for me though. Then for actual meals, I love ham and potato soup (really that’s good anytime but I’m not a big soup in summer person) and chili. I need the weather to cool down a bit more for those but you best believe they are going to be in my life soon.

Best part of my weekend was bed last night lol. I had a social distanced going away party Saturday for someone then we went to a family friend’s for a tiny watch party for the football game. I was exhausted by the time it was ready for bed last night!

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Seriously, those ones are the absolute best and I can’t wait to make them too. I totally agree with you on the fresh from the orchard apple… they taste like candy. Can’t wait until it cools down for you guys so you can have your soups. That is so great that they had a party for you… so excited for your changes and I hope you woke up more refreshed than ever today.

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Go, Brooke! I’m not surprised she prefers midfield, that’s the position that requires the most running. ?‍♀️
Also Stephen’s hot chocolate is the best! I love their mint hot cocoa. And the hazelnut. And the dark chocolate. Now I need to go restock my hot chocolate supply!

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That is so so true… she is all about the running:). Off to get their mint hot cocoa, I forgot about much I love that one. Have a beautiful Monday, Liz!

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Candy corn is delicious! I get it in Banff at their candy store when I go so I can have it year round lol.

Thanks for all the baking ideas! I am a huge fall baker lol. I am actually heading to Michaels today to get fall baking supplies so the kids and I can make pumpkin sugar cookies today. (They have a great selection of fall/Halloween sprinkles).

Running wise I have definitely lost fitness…I think having all three kids home this year really caused me to push the running to the side. Now that they are back in school I want to get into a routine again.

Andrew has the best ideas I’m sure you guys felt very pampered:)

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We want to go to Banff so so bad and now I need to go to the candy store there too. I didn’t know about Michaels sprinkles… I’ll have to go too, thank you. Are your kids in school every day now? I’m excited for you to have your routine again. Thanks so much Gillian and we really did. Enjoy your Monday and those cookies.

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Oh how I love fall foods! Making soups in the crockpot happens often because it’s easy and so good! But boy do I wish we had Great Harvest out here! How cute are those bread bowls ?
Yes, yes, yes to candy corn! I always have a jar filled from the day after labor day until November. I do need to try those cookies.
In this weird time of our world, I really feel like the one consistent was my running. Even taking time off because of the achilles, running was my normal. But, I have also been able to add in more consistent strength work and pilates a few times a week, which has felt amazing! I haven’t increased mileage or speed really, but I think I have developed a very strong base. It will be fun to see where that takes me when races start happening again.
Oh, the best part of the weekend was Sunday. We spent the afternoon/evening with almost the whole family. I haven’t seen my sis-in-law and her family since March, the cousins all got to hang out, we watched football, talked, hugged…. My heart and soul needed that so much! It really was a great day ?
Happy Monday, and here’s to a great week!

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I’ll ship you some of the bread bowls this year:). You are going to love these cookies, they are so so good. I totally agree with you, running has been an amazing constant during this time. I need to get into pilates, I hear about so many amazing benefits from it. I am so glad you had such a great Sunday, that sounds PERFECT! Thanks Wendy, you too.

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candy corn=yes. I have a shirt that says “candy corn is my favorite vegetable”. And I may own 4 or 5 other pieces of clothing with candy corn on it! I even dressed up as a candy corn one year…..white beanie, orange sweatshirt, yellow sweatpants….and I painted my nose like a candy corn. I may be obsessed.

I heard they have some that taste like thanksgiving dinner……why? don’t mess with a good thing.

on a random note, the wienermobile is outside our aquarium today!! I got a whistle and everything!!

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BAHAHA I need that shirt for sure. YES, I remember some leggings that you have with candy corn… so fun. I think we need to try the Thanksgiving dinner ones just to see what they are like. That’s awesome taht the wienermobile is at your work today. Enjoy your day Loribth!

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I love hot chocolate in the fall. Tickettyboohc.com has the best hot chocolate! I used to love Stephen’s hot chocolate, but Ticketty Boo’s is better. My favorite is the original flavor.

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Well, now I must try their hot chocolate. Thanks for letting me know Laurel and I hope you have a beautiful Monday!

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I’m a summer girl, so I haven’t yet embraced the upcoming season and flavors…I need more time :)
Candy corn = YES!!! It’s been in stores here for at least 6 weeks, but I haven’t given in to it yet. Soon!!!
We had a lovely outdoor brunch on Saturday, so that was a weekend highlight. I really wish I could have gotten in a spa day, too! Andrew wins the weekend :)
Thank you for the hot chocolate link! My kids love it, so we’ll give this brand a try.

Happy Monday!

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Hahah I was thinking that this post was probably a little premature for most people:). Maybe pregnancy is making me fully embrace summer being over more than usual. That brunch sounds absolutely perfect and let me know what you think of the hot chocolate. Thanks Corey, you too.

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Love the spa night, especially the cucumbers ;) And I get really excited for crisp apples from the orchard in Fall! Best part of the weekend was watching 2 great stages of the The Tour de France. We were supposed to do a cycling trip in Switzerland this summer so we are living vicariously through the Tour riders (although they cover in 1 day what would easily take us 3; I guess we stop too often for croissants).

I have a question. I’m training for my first marathon, and missed a long run this weekend (would have been 15 miles) because of the horrible smoke. For a few weeks now I’ve just been able to make up the long run on a different day, but it looks like it will stay smoky for a while here. When you have to skip a long run, do you just scratch it off the plan and continue with whatever next week shows, or do you try to make up for it later? Next week would be a drop back to 10 miles, would I just do 15 instead? I don’t have access to a treadmill but have been trying to keep up a baseline on the elliptical. I know so many in the West are affected by fires right now and just curious how others are handling this. Also praying for rain and for everyone’s safety!

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Hi Janae! Thank you for reminding me that it’s candy corn time! I love that stuff. This year I have gone from the best running shape in my life to injuries and then quarantine. But I’m not too bummed, it’s like you said running will always be there for us.
Happy Monday and hope it’s a great week ahead!

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Ha, my wife has already brought home candy corn, harvest mix (2 types of candy corn + candy pumpkins) AND a pumpkin pie from Costco. Needless to say, my wife likes the fall as much as ya’ll. And I am “forced” to oblige and eat the candy corn and pumpkin pie of course.

The smoke here kinda ruined the weekend but I certainly enjoyed the college and NFL football games.

I did learn this year to overcome my hamstring issue and complete a half marathon. However – it really messed up my left knee. Looking closer at video of myself running – I see the issue. My left knee moves outward at plant (varus knee) – which is typical with knee OA – so I really need to work further on preventing hip drop (which can cause knee varus) and study this further. Fun stuff.

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That’s a hard pass on the candy corn but I’d eat the peanuts. It was cooler here last week so we made cheesy potato soup and chili but now this week it’ll be in the 80’s again. I think I’m ready for more fall food though like pumpkin pancakes, tator tot casserole and to make homemade applesauce.

I think the best part of my weekend was my husband shampooing our carpet! Grossily satisfying!

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TJ’s pumpkin bread with chocolate chips is definitely a favorite around here too. We go back and forth between muffins and actual bread every couple of weeks. Never disappoints!

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All that fall food looks so yummy!

I love candy corn a little too much :/ I am also very excited for fall food!!!

Don’t worry about getting slower, you will totally have baby doping and come back to more PRs =D

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I’ve not had candy corn so can’t say about that. We don’t really have different type of candies at this time of year but definitely in the lead up to Christmas it’s candy canes that are the biggest thing! And anything peppermint flavoured. I hope your sister is ok and isn’t suffering another injury! My fitness this year has improved. Hoping to run my first half marathon this coming weekend!!! Eeeek

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I am Always amused by American people’s love of Fall!
In Switzerland it’s not really a thing,.. We normally just go on hikes to see the beautiful colors and make more apple pies and pumpkin soup, but that’s about it.
Our most special holiday is St Niklas Day, on december 6, but before that nothing much happens.
Of course colder weather is ALWAYS an excuse to eat more melted cheese too (fondue or raclette) :)
Let me know if you need any cheese fondue mix, I’ll send it to you! There should be a way to keep it refrigerated with DHL right?
Love from (still very hot) Bern

sarah

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YES the peanut + candy corn combo is the absolute best!!

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