Week 1

As has been well documented here, I am not a huge fan of running.  I've stopped and started and stopped and started for years.  It's hard for me and I just don't particularly enjoy it.  This time is no different, though I'm really trying to change my attitude and be more positive.

Day 1 (Monday) wasn't so bad, so getting up and run for Day 2 this morning wasn't a problem.  I even found that Day 2 was already a little easier than Day 1.  I found that I didn't need/want to look at my phone to see how much time I had left.  I just went for it.

Just after I started today's program, an older gentleman came out to the pond where I was running to stretch, walk, and enjoy the AMAZING weather we are having (oh please, oh please, oh please weather be like this in 360 days!).  I said "good morning" as I passed him the first time, and then basically ignored him (and vice versa) until I was on my cool down.  He stopped me and said (in fairly broken English, which made it so much nicer that he wanted to talk to me) "50 years I have walked or ran everyday, so good for you" and smiled.  I thanked him and as I walked away he repeated himself and smiled bigger.  Thanks for the boost sweet man.  It wasn't just what he said, it's what I heard, "keep going!", as if this total stranger was proud of me just for trying.

And so with that added motivation, I know I can do it.  Day 3, here I come!

Maybe I'll Try Again

Way too much has happened since I last blogged (FEBRUARY!!) to catch up in one post (or any post), so let's just pretend you know everything that has happened in my life over the last seven months (I'm an open book, you probably do).

After seeing my friend Erica in New Orleans, I was inspired to start blogging again.  Basically if anyone ever tells me that they enjoy my writing, it's probably going to be enough of an ego boost to make me start doing it again.

Tomorrow is day 1 of retraining for a 5k.  Sakief found a race in early December, so I should be able to finish a C25k program before then.  He starts training for a marathon soon, so he promises to help me get out the door to run.  I'd hate to have a repeat of my last 5k (ow).

No recipes to post at the moment, though I apparently have three draft posts from February (sigh) that are all recipes.  I feel like I need to make the food again before I can go back and finish the posts.  At least I know what's for dinner... 

Hopefully this means I'll start cooking more often too.  Sakief loves to cook, but I don't feel like I've been pulling my weight in the kitchen recently.  

Wedding diet is in full effect with 20 lbs down.  I haven't been on the scale since before La's wedding, too much traveling, but I feel good, and know when I get back on the scale it will be a number I approve of.  I only have to skrink myself at least two dress sizes... damnit bridal moment.  I just had to fall in love with a discontinued dress.  That aside, the weight loss is for me, not the wedding, and for continued health.  Sakief is the greatest support system, as per usual, and with him by my side (duh) I can do anything.

P.S. If you don't have a FitBit, you probably should.  Just saying.  I've never walked more in my life.

Chicken, Broccoli and Garlic Kebabs

I borrowed this recipe from kissmysmoke.com, and it's awesome and easy!  I haven't yet gone crazy on here about my newest cooking tool, the Cuisinart Griddler, but if you don't have one you should. It's basically a George Foreman grill for adults.  Sakief and I use it for everything these days it seems.  It has removable top and bottom plates that are dishwasher safe.  They are also reversible flat and ridged so you can use it as a grill, panini press, griddle, etc.  The point is, that I used it to make these kebabs, and, wow, so quick! And so nice for those of us who live in apartments and don't have easy access to a grill (or a clean one at least).

I forget was the sauce was that was recommended as a marinade for the chicken and broccoli, but I just made my own.  Soy sauce, ginger paste, sesame oil and garlic (all to taste, we all have different preferences).

Cut up chicken breasts into chunks and toss in a bowl with the marinade.  Do the same to one large head of fresh broccoli.  

Slide alternating chunks of chicken, broccoli and whole garlic cloves onto kebab sticks and grill until chicken is done.  The broccoli becomes a little crispy on the surface, but still soft to eat, and the garlic is nice and soft and awesome (I LOVE garlic). 

In other news, Sakief and I have really been doing well at eating healthier.  We found that we were eating a diet more suited to maintaining weight than losing weight, so this week we started on a more weight loss conducive diet. 

I set my goals small this week, just not wanting to be above a certain weight, and I made it by a pound.  That's all I can ask for.  We also decided to switch our weigh in day from Friday to Thursday because of kickball on Thursday night. It tends to be our only drinking night of the week, so weighing in on Friday just doesn't make sense.

I am realizing that I don't need to be afraid of the scale, it's not the scale, it's me.  So I'm more comfortable weighing in again.

We also have been doing the 52 week money challenge, and decided that if there is a week where we gain weight from the previous weigh in, we'll add an extra $5 to our jars.  So in the short term it's a consequence, but in the long term we'll have more money saved for a vacation, wee!

Have a wonderful week friends!

Identifying the Problem

Getting back into the swing of things is proving harder than I thought. I know it requires the right mind set, but I really thought I had that. Clearly not.

Sakief and I have spent time discussing exactly why it is that we are having trouble sticking to healthier diets and we've identifies a few issues. 

1) Not enought leftovers. 

Which leads to not enough food for lunch.  We used to have the problem of making too much food and then letting it go bad.  Apparently we really need to find the happy medium.  

2) Eating when you're full.

Which leads to not enough leftovers... viscious cycle.  Basically, if it tastes good, we'll keep eating until well over full, and food that was meant to be for leftovers is consumed for dinner.

At least we've identified the issues so that we can work on them.  Le sigh.

In the mean time, here is another new recipe for your enjoyment.  Jared bought me the Peace, Love and Low Carb cookbook (check it out, she's awesome!) and I'm really enjoying experimenting from it.

Here's the first I tried!

Balsamic Mustard Steaks:

1.5 lbs steak (cut of your choice)

2 Tbs olive oil

1 shallot (I had green onion, I think any member of the onion family will work fine)

2 Tbs butter

1/3 balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup beef broth

1/4 cup spicy brown mustard

salt and pepper (to taste)

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil on high.  Season the steak with salt and pepper. Sear the steaks on each side for 3-4 mins (longer if you like it more well done, 3-4 mins was about medium rare for me). Remove steaks and set aside (if you cover with foil it will keep them warm). Add the shallot (green onion, etc) and butter to pan and saute. Add balsamic vinegar. Use a spatula to scrape the bottom of the pan for any steak bits. Bring to a boil on medium heat, then reduce heat and simmer for 5 mins. Add beef broth and then whisk in mustard. Let simmer for about 10 mins, stirring occasionally, until sauce has thickened. Serve sauce over steaks.

I'm really excited about this cookbook and I'm excited to try more recipes!  I've already tried a lasagna recipe, and it was awesome.  I'll share it soon!

New Year, New Me?

I finally got up the courage to step on the scale this morning, and well, I wasn't as disappointed as I could have been.  It was still disappointing to see how much weight I allowed myself to gain back last year, but it's on me, and I'll fix it. 

It's crazy to think that I've been going through this process now for two years.  2012 was a great year, I was happy, lost a ton of weight, life was good.  2013 wasn't as great, in fact, 2013 pretty much sucked and took a crazy emotional toll on me.  Not worth going into details, but I was fighting against a vicious cycle (and losing) basically all year.  I'm not a stress eater per se, but I do experience an inordinate amount of fatigue which leads to: less working out, less cooking, less packed lunches, and more time sitting on a couch (oh, my darling DVR, you didn't help).

2014 will be better (because if it's not, I'm hibernating through 2015).  But really, it will be better.  I try to avoid making new year's resolutions about weight loss, but every year, I resolve to be healthier. To me that includes a lot of things, weight loss of course, but also, better stress management, being more active, flossing more... etc.

I've said it before, but I need to be better about keeping myself accountable.  I am so lucky to have such a great support system, but I have to be in charge of myself.  So be prepared for more blog posts friends, and not just recipes like I had gotten in the habit of.  But I'll definitely still share recipes!  I have a couple stored up, waiting for me to have time to type them out.

Happy 2014!  I wish everyone health and happiness this year, and always!

What is that? A loofa?

I've had plenty of posts started for awhile now, but I had to post this recipe asap, it was that good!  I'm loving quinoa dishes, since Sakief eats rice with almost everything.  It's such a great substitute, though the texture is definitely different.

This one's for you Jared!

Blackened Chicken with Cilantro Lime Quinoa and Avocado Cream Sauce

adapted from http://www.sarcasticcooking.com/2012/03/15/blackened-chicken-and-cilantro-lime-quinoa/

Ingredients:

4 chicken breasts (if they're thick, pound them out with a meat tenderizer, or if you're like me, a rolling pin)

2 cups chicken broth

1 cup quinoa

1 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp cumin

lime juice

chopped cilantro

olive oil

avocado

2 Tbsp plain, nonfat Greek yogurt

Cook quinoa with the chicken broth in a rice cooker while you prepare the chicken.

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl. Coat the chicken breasts. Heat 1-2 Tbsp of olive oil in a medium sauce pan at medium/high heat. Cook chicken for 7 minutes each side, covered, on medium heat. When chicken is fully cooked, remove from heat and let sit.

For cream sauce, combine the flesh of the avocado with the Greek yogurt in a food processor (or magic bullet, or blender, etc, etc). 

When quinoa is done cooking add chopped cilantro and lime juice to taste.

Slice chicken and serve over quinoa. Spoon cream sauce over top.

The original recipe called for the cream sauce to only be used if you needed to cut the heat from the blackening spices, but Sakief and I both agreed that it really makes the dish.

Armadillo Eggs

This is one of the easiest recipes I've made.  I grabbed this one from Pinterest, and the pin led nowhere, so unfortunately I don't have anyone to give credit.  But I certainly didn't come up with the name of this myself.  Thankfully the entire directions were in the pin, so here we are.

Armadillo Eggs:

Ground beef

Cheese of your choice (I used string cheese since it was easy to stuff the peppers with)

Varying peppers (I used sweet mini bell peppers, but in the future I'd try something with some kick, like poblano)

Seasonings of your choice for beef

Preheat over to 375. Cut the stem off of the peppers and de-seed.  Stuff with cheese (don't over fill). Season beef (I used pepper, garlic powder, salt and worchestershire sauce). Flatten out small patties of beef (make them as thin as possible).  Wrap each stuffed pepper so that the cheese is sealed inside. Bake 20-30 mins until the "eggs" are brown on the outside.

Even though I'm not a fan of bell peppers, this wasn't so bad (though like I said, I'd love to try this with spicier peppers).  I tend to find that the mini peppers have a milder flavor, which is probably why I could tolerate this.  The only reason I used them though is because we had them in the fridge (and I don't know why, I'm sure Sakief bought them for some reason). 

What I like the most about this recipe (other than melted cheese, noms) is that it's a different way to use ground beef.  Sakief and I often have ground beef in the freezer, and aren't usually so creative with it.  It's nice to be able to use it for something other than hamburgers and spaghetti sauce.