Strawberries and Mud!

Okay I am about a week behind or so in my blogging and so I better start catching up! Last weekend was a very exciting weekend for me!

STRAWBERRIES
First I was a finalist in the Strawberry Recipe contest that is conducted by the Strawberry Festival in Oxnard. In 2006 I competed and was the winner! That year you could bake (I won with a Strawberry Bread recipe) and the prize was a gift certificate to a dinner out and festival tickets. The following year they upped the ante but did not allow baking and the winning prize was a cruise! You can imagine I felt ripped off and said I would try to win again some year. Well the last few years I have either been pregnant or with a newborn, so this year when I saw the deadline pop up on an email I entered a recipe that sounded good to me without actually making it first! So when I got the call that I was a top 5 finalist out of 80 plus entries, my first thought was "well I hope it actually is a recipe that tastes good" and I can it a trial run! Luckily my tastebud thoughts were right on with my Strawberry Couscous and it was yummy! So last friday the 5 of us competed in an iron chef like cook off. It was fun and they featured us in local newspaper here and just yesterday here and news, but unfortunately my plans to win the cruise did not happen as I came it third (to two chefs mind you!). I had fun competing though.

Me with my recipe

Photo of me presenting to the judges

The recipe

Strawberry, Avocado and Toasted Almond Couscous Salad
Ingredients
Salad
1 Box 8 ounce Couscous (Israeli Couscous works best)
1 Tablespoon Butter
1 ¾ cup water
2 cups fresh strawberries, diced
1 cup toasted sliced almonds
2 avocados, diced
2 green onions, sliced
1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese

Dressing
¼ cup red wine vinegar
¼ cup vegetable or canola oil
¼ cup orange juice
½ cup sugar
1 teaspoon mustard
½ teaspoon onion salt (or 1/2 teaspoon regular salt if no onion salt available)

1. Mix together dressing ingredients in one bowl and set aside for flavors to meld.
2. Fry couscous in pan with 1 Tablespoon butter for 5 minutes.
3. Add water slowly to couscous and simmer for 10-12 minutes until all water is absorbed.
4. While couscous is cooking, prepares other salad components. Wash and dice strawberries. Dice avocados. Slice green onions.
5. When couscous is done, mix with strawberries, avocado, onions, almonds, and goat cheese in one large bowl. Add dressing and mix gently right before serving. Season with salt and pepper as needed and enjoy the burst of flavors in your mouth!
Serves 6-8

MUD
Last Saturday I competed in my first mud run! I normally am not a fan of running but since this was only 2 miles of running with 2 miles of obstacles following the run I figured I could do the run without having to train (: I have always wanted to get dirty with a mud run so I signed up with a friend who ended up being sick that day so I was on my own. Jon came to the run with the kids too - which was nearby at Port Hueneme - and they cheered me on although I think Shayla could not figure out why I was running through the mud. I did not know what to expect with the obstacles but there were A LOT of them - several mud pits that I ended up swimming through vs trying to run through and everything from crossing a mud pit by hanging upside down on ropes to crawling through water filled tunnels! It was a lot more intense than I thought but I had fun and pushed through and ended up 13th out of 250 girls and 4th in my age group! So not bad for not training! Jon took some pics with his iphone but I have yet tsee them so you will have to just make do with the photo from the paper.