Can I Get a Gold Star?

Suuuuuurely I deserve some sort of recognition for eating Tofu Lettuce Wraps while the rest of my family chowed down on pizza. Right?

My First WOD

Yesterday I did something that scared me. Well, pretty much everything new scares me … anyway, I went to CrossFit for the first time.

I’ve been wanting to try it for a long time now, but I’ve always been too intimidated to actually go. I didn’t show up the first time I signed up to go to a free class.

I’m sorry, but this just looks intimidating …

That was my workout last night for my first class and thanks to Facebook, I saw this before I went.

My thoughts:

*Oh cool .. run 400 meters … that’s like a cute little quarter mile. I got that shit*

*What the hell is an inch worm?* … *What the hell does OH mean?* … *What the hell is a Push Press?*

*Maybe I should Google and/or Youtube this stuff*

And so I did. And then I was even more intimidated.

But I went anyway, and I LOVED it!

My friend Kaitlin joined me, which always makes things easier. We learned the moves, did the workout and counted our reps.

I lived. And it wasn’t scary at all.

Yay for trying new things!

I have a feeling I’m going to become addicted. Can’t wait to go back tonight.

Global Mala Yoga for Peace

Mala is a term used for a rosary, or prayer beads, worn on the neck, or wrist, and counted with the fingers. (source)

Last night I participated in Mala Yoga for Peace which consisted of 108 sun salutations to inspire positive change with the changing of seasons. This is a common practice in the yoga community and is often done in studios globally on the equinoxes and solstices.

What is a sun salutation?

A sun salutation is a series of postures done in a flowing manner and each movement is coordinated with the breath.

(source)

And why 108? (source)

• On Mala, mantra counting beads, you will find 108 beads or some fraction of 108. A larger bead called Meru on Mala is not counted as one of the 108 Mala bead, rather it is the guiding bead, a bead that marks the beginning and the end of the mala.
• Sanskrit alphabet has 54 letters, each has masculine and feminine form called shiva and shakti respectively. 54 times 2 = 108.
• It is said that if one can be so calm in meditation to have only 108 breaths a day that enlightenment will come.
• There are said to be 108 energy lines or nadis converging to form the heart chakra.
• The distance between the Earth and Sun is 108 times the diameter of the Sun.
• The diameter of the Sun is 108 times the diameter of the Earth.
• The distance between the Earth and Moon is 108 times the diameter of the Moon.

To me it just seemed like a interesting thing to do for the Autumnal Equinox. The 108 were broken up into 4 groups of 27 … each group was dedicated to a different idea to focus on: family, friends, the world, etc.

It was very calming for the mind.

Here’s to making positive changes in the upcoming season.

 

My Monday

A whole lotta nothin’ real interesting has been going on lately, just your typical first world problems and (mostly) stay-at-home mom madness.

I guess Monday was relatively interesting. For lack of anything truly spectacular to share today, I’ll tell you about it.

My day started off with cats puking all over the house while I rushed around to get Lincoln ready for school. Hubby was out for a run, so he missed out on all the fun.

After dropping Muffin off at school I rushed over to the gym to get in my typical Monday crosstraining session. I planned on doing the elliptical as usual and reading some of my new book that I recently started, Finding Ultra. But instead I ended up signing up for a Spin class on a whim.

Its been a while since I’ve taken Spin classes regularly and my legs were heavy from my 12 mile run on Sunday, but whatever. This hard 45 minute class was just about over when the instructor announced that her personal training client cancelled so we could go for an extra 15 minutes. *Yipee* At the one hour mark she once again announced that she had a special treat for us … an extra 10 more minutes. By the time it was all said and done we had spun … spinned … whatever .. for an hour and 18 minutes.

I was kinda pissy about the whole thing. Didn’t she know that I had just run a hard 12 miles the day before and was just looking for a little crosstraining? … Nah, of course not. But then after class the instructor asked me my name and told me that I was “a beast” and that I inspired her to keep going. That turned my whole attitude around and suddenly I was grateful that I went to the class and stuck out the whole thing.

I was also pretty grateful for the killer calorie burn and snack time in the locker room.

And then disaster struck …

I brought all my clothes to the gym to shower, change, do my hair and makeup because I had tons of errands to run and had to go up to work to pick up some paperwork. I showered … dried off, went to change clothes and realized … I didn’t bring a clean bra.

*Shut your mouth. Noooooooooo.*

Ever worn a soaking wet sweaty bra with clean clothes on your clean body? … whelp, I have.

Total first world problem, I know.

Anyway … lunch was the Spinach Veggie Wrap at Jason’s Deli where I sat alone in my own filthy underthings. I intended to take a pic, but I was so hangry I tore the face off the wrap before I remembered to snap one ..

And now for a confession …

Remember how I made my own ketchup a few days ago and threw out all of my HFCS stuff? Well, turns out my ketchup was kinda nasty after sitting in the fridge for a couple of days. I tried re-blending it with more vinegar and thinning it out with more water … but it was a flop.

Hopefully this EarthFare Agave Ketchup will do the trick for a clean ketchup … because I’ve gotta find something fast. I’m a ketchup addict.

Notable recipe so far this week was Skillet Eggs in a Rustic Tomato Sauce with Lima Beans from Tosca Reno’s – The Eat Clean Diet Vegetarian Cookbook.

Lima beans, kalamata olives, tomatoes and eggs? … Uh .. yeah.

Divine.

It Feels Like Christmas!

I have to admit that its a little embarrassing how happy grocery shopping day makes me. Its kinda like Christmas … once a week.

I keep opening the refrigerator door to admire my beautiful purchases. It’s true.

This weeks menu will include:

• Clean Eating Yakisoba
• Homemade Bran Muffins
• Portobello Burgers w/ Homemade Sundried Tomato Basil Spread
• Skillet Eggs in Rustic Tomato Sauce w/ Butter Beans
• Greek Tempeh Stuffed Peppers

I’m proud to say that I’ve made it the entire week ON IT! Not a single binge-fest. And believe it or not I haven’t had a drop of alcohol in 6 days. Good things are happening on the scale as well.

Now comes the hard part though, making it through the weekend. My eternal downfall. The good news is that I’m broke so I can’t really blow my caloric load on food and drinks at restaurants.

I have been dreaming about Chocolate Shop since about 10 am though.

No Crap Allowed Diet

I’ve really been making an effort lately to cut the crap out of my diet. Some days I win and some days I fail miserably. But the important thing is that I try. I’ve found that I’m much more successful when I think ahead and prepare. This blog by one of my favorite healthy living bloggers is what inspired me.

Yesterday I made the snack balls, brown rice patties, baked “boiled” eggs and clean fudgesicles. I also pre-cut a bunch of fruit to store in tupperware for the week.

Today I’ve been in the kitchen again working on a few more things. I found this device at Publix a few days ago, which happens to be something I also saw on Ashley’s blog:

It was so easy to make my own Balsamic Vinaigrette that I actually threw away all my other salad dressings …

I had a hard time letting go of the Green Goddess, that shit is delish after all but after I checked the ingredients lists it was an easy choice.

Yellow 5, Blue 1? … No thanks.

The verdict on the Brown Rice Patties from last night is a big thumbs up. A lot of work, but worth it. For dinner I had them on a gluten-free bun hamburger style.

Today for lunch I re-purposed them as croutons on my big salad.

This next bit is going to surprise some people.

I threw away my ketchup today.

But not until I made sure that I could make a cleaner tasty version of it on my own. So I got in the kitchen and started experimenting.

The winning combo ended up being 16 oz tomato paste, 1 cup water, 4 tablespoons apple cider vinegar, 4 tablespoons agave nectar, a pinch of allspice, cinnamon, salt, and cayenne and about a tablespoon each of garlic powder and onion powder.

I used a funnel to fill up a squeezable plastic bottle for the fridge and froze the rest in ice cube trays for later use.

All this preparation has definitely been time consuming, and not totally necessary … but I happen to love this stuff so no skin off my back. A couple hours in the kitchen is a trade off for easy quick meals the rest of the week.

I Need a Sous Chef

I have spent the better part of the afternoon in the kitchen. My sous chef, aka hubby, is out of town so it was all me today. I chopped, grated, baked, rolled and mixed my heart out.

I started yesterday by making a meal plan for myself for the week and shopping for the ingredients. Because it would just be me and Lincoln eating, I tried to think of things that froze well or that I could eat for multiple meals without getting bored. Making several recipes that use similar ingredients really cuts down on grocery store costs.

First I made these snack balls:

Dried fruit, nuts, flaxseed, almond butter and rolled in sesame seeds. Black sesame seeds are what I had on hand. In a moment of pure effing genius I told Lincoln they were chocolate seeds. He’s been begging for more “peanut butter chocolate balls” all afternoon.

Next up, Baked “boiled” eggs.

I love having boiled eggs around for salads, breakfast and snacks. I read online somewhere that baking the eggs instead of boiling them yielded creamier more flavorful and consistently cooked “hard boiled eggs”.

325 degrees for 30 minutes. Ice bath. Peel. Done.

Next up dessert. I’ve learned over and over again that the number one thing that causes me to fail my entire day of healthy eating is not having something healthy on hand to have for dessert. It’s times like that when I end up wrist deep in a jar of peanut butter.

I found a great recipe for natural fudgesicles on Pinterest. There are only a few ingredients involved:

A blender, popsicle molds, canned coconut milk, cocoa powder, pure vanilla extract, bananas and one super silly assistant.

Blend 2 TBSP cocoa powder, 1/2 cup coconut milk, 2 bananas and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract and pour into molds. Freeze for atleast 2 hours.

Each popsicle works out to be about 130 calories and there is absolutely no sugar involved.

Last but definitely not least are these babies:

Brown Rice Patties.

Grated sweet potato, carrots, zucchini, cooked brown rice, flour …

I think I might actually have developed a bicep after all the grating I did for these. Definitely the hardest workout I’ve done today. Whew.

Here’s hoping they are delish because after an entire afternoon preparing food, I’m hangry.

Now I’m off to make some homemade ketchup and chow down on a brown rice patty burger.

Big Brothers/ Big Sisters 10K

This past Saturday I ran the Big Brothers/Big Sisters 10K. I had considered running it, but because I had already run one 10K race that week I decided against it. Late Friday night I ultimately changed my mind again.

This race is special to me because in 2009 it was the very first race I ever participated in. I ran the 5K that year, and haven’t been back to the event since.

Tim and I in 2009:

You can definitely tell we were newbs. Everyone knows you don’t wear the race shirt to the race Timmay!

Tim and I this year:

We arrived early on Saturday morning and registered for the race. We had some time to kill so I walked around taking some pictures and stalking my stalker.

That’s my friend Duane, better known as my stalker, as he has a tendency to show up in the background of all my race pics. Even before I knew who he was.

James, Kaitlin and I before the race.

At 7:30 we ran a one mile warm-up before the race, it was already HOT. I knew then that this wasn’t going to be an easy run.

The race got going at 8:00 and I hung with James and Kaitlin for the first mile or so. The heat and humidity got to me fast though and in combination with the lack of shade on the course, it was just too much. I couldn’t hang with them any longer and they got farther and farther ahead of me.

I wasn’t looking for a PR at this event by any means after the Franklin 10K on Monday, and in fact I already knew that this course was a long one, measuring almost 6.4 miles instead of the typical 6.2 miles. Still I was running a really decent pace despite the ridiculous heat.

The last 2 miles of the race were extremely difficult, I stopped at all 5 of the water stations and at the last couple I lingered for several seconds trying to psych myself up to keep going. Seems silly during a 10K at this point, but it was reality.

When I saw the hubby after the turn around point I screamed to him, “my skin is on fire!”

After the 10K and the 5K split routes there weren’t very many people around, except one guy who I ran most of the race step for step with. At mile 4.5 he started walking and it was all I could do to not do the same. Literally the only thing that made me keep running was remembering that day in 2009 when I ran my first 5K and how my only goal then was to finish the race without walking. I finished it running that day, and I wasn’t going to do any less this day.

My finish stats according to my Garmin (long course remember) were: 6.34 miles in 48:34.

Splits were: 7:19, 7:31, 7:34, 8:01, 7:45 and 7:53.

I ended up with a 2nd overall female finish (Kaitlin won) and I was 1st in my age group.

I’m definitely glad I came back to this event (now that its over), but if I ever get this bright idea again I hope I’ll remember this note to my future self…

Amanda,
Don’t do it. Just don’t.
Love,
Your 2012 self

I Swear I’m Not Pregnant

I’ve been having the weirdest food cravings lately. Well, no … not weird, just intense.

Last week I watched an episode of 30 Minute Meals with Rachael Ray where she made Soba Noodle Salad and Wasabi Broiled Cod. I couldn’t stop thinking about it for days, so I finally broke down and bought the ingredients to make it. The noodle salad was ah-maz-ing, the cod was yummy too, but I could have probably done without it.

Next time I would definitely decrease the amount of oil in the noodle salad, the recipe called for 1/3 of a cup and I only used 1/4 cup and it was still way too much. I think a tablespoon or two just to keep the noodles from sticking would have been sufficient. Also needs double or triple the spicy peppers.

But yeah … good.

I started back to work this week after being off for nearly 5 months. I’m teaching clinicals for nursing students on the floor that I used to work on. It’s been awesome being back in scrubs with my hand up in cervixes. Oh yeah, I said that.

The extra early mornings have increased my appetite even more than usual and apparently my sleepiness as well because I straight up fell asleep in yoga last night. The class ended at 7:30 and I woke up in a panic on the floor of the studio at 7:50. Thankfully, I wasn’t the only one who fell asleep and there were a couple people still around.

Today after work I headed to the gym for an easy 5 mile run and then immediately went to World Market for this …

3 bottles of Chocolate Shop wine and about 15 mini chocolates. Something just isn’t right about this scenario. Hmmm.

Ever tried Chipotle Chocolate though? Hot damn!

I also made the mistake of stopping by Earth Fare to “browse”. That place just makes me freaking happy. I don’t care that its ridiculously overpriced, I feel like a crunchy granola tree hugging badass when I shop there. That’s gotta be worth something.

Anyway … I came home with this …

$12 worth of Vegan Mock Chicken Salad and Rosemary Herb Lentil Crackers. I promptly stood in the kitchen and ate atleast $6 worth of the mock chicken on the crackers. Now I don’t have enough calories left to make the PF Changs style Tofu Lettuce Wraps I was planning for dinner. Stank.

A big glass of Chocolate Shop will make a tasty dinner though.

Franklin Classic 10K

I love that it feels like its Monday, but its really Tuesday. Long weekends rock!

This holiday weekend was a busy one. We were out of town spending some time in Franklin, TN outside of Nashville.  While we were there we ate at a couple amazing restaurants: Saffire for dinner the first night, and Puckett’s for breakfast the next morning.

We visited the Adventure Science Center. I got to go to a Hot Yoga class at Epic Yoga that my friend, Kate taught. We even fed the homeless while we were there, more on that later maybe.

Saturday night we all went out to the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville. The Bluebird is a bar/restaurant/listening room where singer/songwriters come to perform their songs for the audience. There were 10 songwriters who performed 3 songs each and a featured writer. We ended up staying at the Bluebird from 8pm until close to midnight.

This writer was my personal fave, although several of them were excellent:

My friend Drew and I registered to run in the Franklin Classic 10K while we were in town on Labor Day morning. After a couple of days of heavy food and too many drinks, plus a late night at the Bluebird Cafe the night before, I wasn’t thinking too highly of how the race would go.

I was very surprised at the size of the race when we arrived. It looked like a set-up you would see at a half marathon instead of what I have typically seen at 10K or 5K races. There were almost 3000 people in the 10K and 5K races! Definitely wasn’t what I was expecting.

Drew has been running in this area for a while now and he gave me the low-down that the first 4 miles of the course were really hilly and then the last 2 miles would be more flat with a steady decline at the very end of the race.

We started the race off together and he pulled away from me within the first mile. The second mile and third mile were definitely very hilly, as soon as I came off one hill it seemed there was immediately another one waiting. I felt pretty decent though and was able to handle them with ease. I could still see Drew up ahead. Around the 4 mile mark the course finally flattened out some and I started pushing myself harder to try to get as close to Drew as possible. I yelled out to him that he better go because I was coming. Within the last half mile I caught him and passed him, but I knew he wouldn’t be able to stand that … he quickly caught back up to me and we actually ended up crossing the finish line at the exact same second.

Chip time of 46:38! A new PR for me by almost 2 minutes.

My splits were: 7:18, 7:25, 7:53, 7:40, 7:17 and 7:06.

The absolute best part of the race though was seeing my little man run in his very first race. We signed him up for the Kid’s 1K race and he ran it like a champ without stopping at all. Proud mommy!