All things spring!

Oh yes. And there's some of this:

And a whole week of this:

I'm in love with spring! I haven't had a problem getting my fruit in lately because I've been having a smoothie almost daily. I'm a huge smoothie freak and the second the weather warms up enough, I whip out the smoothie gear.

Tada!

All that turns into this:

Yum. So along with the awesome weather, I've been feeling a huge push to plant things and clean my home. Does anyone else get that? Like as soon as you can sleep with the windows open at night, you want to be able to wake up to the sun streaming in the windows without highlighting that pile of clean laundry you've been meaning to fold for a week? So along with cleaning my house and patio, I've also decided to clean my fridge. It's like I have all these odds and ends of things that I need to use up so I pulled them all out, set them on the counter and thought, "hmmm, what can I do with 6 different kinds of cheese?" Which lead to one of my greatest culinary creations ever: macaroni and cheese- all grown up.

I don't really ever follow recipes (probably why I am more of a cook than a baker). So here is the recipe for my awesome creation:
-Maybe about 1/3 of a bag of whole wheat pasta, cooked about 1/2 the length of time the bag calls for and then drained and set aside.
-I make a rue by tossing about 1/4 cup of flour in a food processor with 1/2 cup milk and blending completely, then I mix that into the pot with the rest of the milk (I used about 2 cups I think? Just the rest of the carton.) Then I cook it on low, whisking regularly until it cooks and becomes nice and think.
-then I stirred in about 3 cups of assorted shredded cheese. I think there was: parmesan, asiago, precorino romano, feta, and mozzarella, but it's hard to tell because they were all in tupperware and had lost their labels. I just kinda smelled and guessed. : )
-Stir in the macaroni and pour into a greased baking dish. Either stick it in th fridge, freeze or pop in the oven at 375 until the center is bubbley.

I ate mine with a side salad. : )

Update on the 5K training:

I've been doing shorter runs that are about 2-2.5 miles to get into the habit of running. With less than a month left until my first race, I decided to time myself running the full distance to see how much I've improved. This run was really exciting because it was the first one where I didn't need to walk at all and I finished in 34 mins! The first time I ran/walked it, it took me 47 mins and my goal was to improve my time by 10 mins by the time of the race, so it looks like I should meet my goal! I think I may have hurt my shin on that run though, so I'm going to stay off of it for a couple days and let it heal. I also have a ballet final coming up and I don't want to over-work myself, get hurt and not be able to work out for a while.

And I'll leave you with one last parting image.

Happy spring everyone!