Sour Cream Basil Dip

3 small cloves garlic

handful of basil leaves

1/4 c chick peas

3/4 c sour cream

As usual, measurements are approximate...I don't really know exactly how much chick peas or sour cream I used. I put the garlic cloves in the food processor first, then when they were chopped up I added the basil, when it was chopped up I added the chick peas, when they were chopped up I added the sour cream and let it all get blended together. Simple and tasty.   

In other news, something is eating my basil plant.  My INDOOR basil plant.  I haven't decided yet whether or not I need to freak out and throw away the whole plant in order to save myself from whatever tiny little  bugs are destroying it. 

Ground Beef Surprise

It's been too long since I concocted something random in the kitchen, so I decided to remedy that yesterday.  I went through the fridge and cabinets and came up with some random things to throw together.  It came out quite tasty, just like all my other experiments.

Ingredient List

I also used about 1/4 c of marinara sauce, which I forgot to write down.

Brown the onion and garlic, then add the chickpeas, corn, and tomatoes.  Cook for a bit, then add the beef.  Mix well, then add the mushrooms and pineapple.  Add seasonings. Add marinara sauce.  Cook until it reaches whatever level of thickness appeals to you.  Serve over pasta. 

Adventures of a frustrated athlete, episode ?

Yesterday's episode of "adventures of a frustrated athlete" ended with a broken spoke 6.5 miles into my ride. The only brightside to this episode was that it happened 3 blocks from home, instead of 8 miles from home like the broken chain episode. I was riding a loop that is just under 7 miles long, with the intention of repeating it 2 or 3 times, depending on how my back felt. But, as I was flying down the hill into town at the end of the first loop, my bike suddenly started making this horrible clanking noise. I pulled over to find out what was wrong and had trouble locating the problem...until I realized one of my spokes was sticking out. A kind gentleman on his way to lunch tried to help me rig it so I could at least get the wheel to spin quietly on the way home. He said you can often just pop out the other end of the spoke, but on my bike apparently they are not made to do that. So we managed to twist the broken end around another spoke and I was able to drag the bike home. I was only a block away from the bike shop, but of course it was the one day of the week that the shop is closed...

I really wanted some exercise yesterday, and 6 miles on a bike was nowhere near enough. So I had to drag myself to the gym and torture myself on the elliptical for 35 minutes. At least I had some good music to listen to, and a good book to read, while I was enduring the torture. 

Between my foot pain, back pain, and broken bikes, I am getting very frustrated! The back pain got so bad last week, it was shooting down into my leg and making my leg go numb. That resulted in me being unable to ride much more than 10 miles at a time, which was realy frustrating after all my 30-50 mile rides. One of my DO (osteopathic doctor) friends fixed my back for me Sunday night, which helped a lot, but I know it is not going to stay fixed for long. Too much bad muscle memory. I had made it 18 miles with no significant pain on Monday, and was hoping for some decent mileage yesterday as well. 

I head to RI tomorrow, and I'm not bringing the bike with me. I'm planning to try running on grass to see if that hurts my foot or not, since it's softer than pavement. If that fails, I guess I will be stuck exercising indoors on torture machines for the week. When I get back to WV, I will have to make a decision about whether I am going to get my foot injected, or whether I am going to try to find a sports medicine specializing foot doctor who might be able to tell me what is actually wrong with my foot...